ArticlePlastic and reconstructive surgery2018
Use of Routine Pathologic Evaluation of Nonmalignant Lesions in Hand Surgery: A National Study.
Article in Plastic and reconstructive surgery, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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.
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.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Cost Does Not Outweigh the Benefit: Pathologic Evaluation of Wrist Ganglion Cysts Should Not Be Routine.Hand (New York, N.Y.) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMost lesions of the upper extremity are common and benign, and many have questioned the need for routine pathologic evaluation of these specimens. The authors aim to examine the national use of routine pathologic examination of nonmalignant hand lesions to help guide health care policy and practice patterns.
methodsThe authors used a national level MarketScan database to form a cohort of adult patients who underwent excision of nonmalignant upper extremity lesions. The authors calculated the rate of submission for each surgical procedure and separately for each diagnosis. The authors also investigated demographic and clinical characteristics associated with the submission of surgical specimens using a multivariable logistic regression model. The authors calculated the total cost of routine pathologic evaluation.
resultsThe final study cohort included 222,947 patients and 182,962 specimens from 153,518 cases. The mean rate of submission was 69 percent. Older age, Northeast region, and high comorbidity scores showed significant correlation with the odds of having a specimen submitted for pathologic evaluation. Excision of primary wrist ganglion was the most performed procedure, and benign lesions larger than 4.0 cm were most frequently submitted for pathologic evaluation. The mean cost of routine pathologic examination was $133 per specimen, and the annual expenditure was $5 million.
conclusionsThe routine pathologic examination of benign hand lesions is used frequently but provides limited clinical benefit at a cost. To increase efficiency and improve quality of care, surgeons should be aware of the low value of routine pathologic evaluation and be more selective for cases for which diagnostic testing will change management.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.