EVIDENCE

JAMA -- Mediastinoscopy vs Endosonography for Mediastinal Nodal Staging of Lung Cancer: A Randomized Trial, November 24, 2010, Annema et al. 304 (20): 2245

I used to practice both cardiac and thoracic surgery until August 2007. After the appointment of 2 purely thoracic surgeons to our department, 2 of us who practiced both disciplines had to give up thoracic surgery. For various reasons that I won't go into now, I decided to give up thoracic surgery and stick to cardiac. Although this paper will not affect my practice, it still gives me great pleasure to see a well conducted surgical trial that produces good evidence that surgeons can use in their everyday practice - even though the results of the study means less surgery. We need more of these.