Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24615607›Full record

ArticleWorld journal of surgery2014

Novel thyroidectomy difficulty scale correlates with operative times.

David F Schneider, Haggi Mazeh, Sarah C Oltmann, Herbert Chen, Rebecca S Sippel

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in World journal of surgery, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
19citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.9field-weighted citation impact, top 10% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 48 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Exploring Post-Thyroidectomy Hypocalcemia in the Background of Thyroiditis- A Comparative Study.Indian journal of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery : official publication of the Association of Otolaryngologists of India · 2025
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  18. Substernal goiter: when is a sternotomy required?The Journal of surgical research · 2015
    Article
  19. Identifying predictors of a difficult thyroidectomy.The Journal of surgical research · 2014
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

David F SchneiderDepartment of Surgery, Section of Endocrine Surgery, University of Wisconsin, K3/738, Clinical Science Center, 600 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI, 53792, USA, schneiderd@surgery.wisc.edu.
Haggi Mazeh
Sarah C Oltmann
Herbert Chen
Rebecca S Sippel
Highland Community College - Illinois · USUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison · US

Funding

Institutional Clinical and Translational Science AwardUL1TR000427 · NCATS · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI DREZNER, MARC KENNETH · 2012 to 2016
$32.2M
Institutional Clinical and Translational Science AwardKL2TR000428 · NCATS · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI DREZNER, MARC KENNETH · 2012 to 2016
$6.2M
PHYSICIAN SCIENTIST TRAINING IN CANCER MEDICINET32CA009614 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI MCNEEL, DOUGLAS G. · 1988 to 2014
$3.8M
NCATS NIH HHS KL2 TR000428NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR000427NCI NIH HHS T32 CA009614NCI NIH HHS T32 CA009614-23
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe aim of this study was to evaluate a new thyroidectomy difficulty scale (TDS) for its inter-rater agreement, correspondence with operative times, and correlation with complications.

methodsWe developed a four item, 20-point TDS. Following cases where two board-certified surgeons participated, each surgeon completed a TDS, blinded to the other's responses. Paired sets of TDS scores were compared. The relationship between operative time and TDS scores was analyzed with linear regression. Multiple regression evaluated the association of TDS scores and other clinical data with operative times.

resultsA total of 119 patients were scored using TDS. In this cohort, 22.7% suffered from hyperthyroidism, 37.8% experienced compressive symptoms, and 58.8% had cancer. The median total TDS score was 8, and both surgeons' total scores exhibited a high degree of correlation. Overall, 87.4% of the two raters' total scores were within one point of each other. Patients with hyperthyroidism received higher median scores than euthyroid patients (10 vs. 8, p < 0.01). Similarly, patients who suffered a complication had higher scores than those without complications (10 vs. 8, p = 0.04). TDS scores demonstrated a linear relation with operative times (R2 = 0.36, p < 0.01). Cases with a score of ≥14 took 41.0% longer compared to cases with scores of ≤5 (p < 0.01). In the multiple regression analysis, TDS scores independently predicted the operative time (p < 0.01).

conclusionThe TDS is an accurate tool whose scores correlate with more difficult thyroidectomies as measured by complications and operative times.

Indexed as

Clinical CompetenceOperative TimeCertificationFemaleHashimoto DiseaseHumansHyperthyroidismMaleMiddle AgedMultivariate AnalysisProspective StudiesThyroidectomyThyroid Neoplasms

Identifiers

PMID24615607
PMCPMC4251734
OpenAlexW2048193371

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.