For the 10th consecutive year, ACS President E. Christopher Ellison, MD, FACS, MAMSE, and Regent Kenneth W. Sharp, MD, FACS, MAMSE, will moderate a wide-ranging, rapid-fire session on Ten Hot Topics in General Surgery.

While the topics change each year, the format of this session has remained the same. During today’s 90-minute session, attendees will listen to a series of 6-minute presentations, immediately followed by 3 minutes of discussion with the audience. The session—which starts at 8:00 am—is in Room 6B on the upper level of the San Diego Convention Center. 

“Dr. Ellison and I are very excited for this to be back in person where we can have much more interaction,” Dr. Sharp said. “There’s a little bit of pressure with the formatting that is much more exciting when we’re all in the room.”

The moderators keep close tabs on common questions, debates, and issues in general surgery, then select the most interesting of these topics to create a program that covers a broad range of general surgery trends.

“We’re not talking about really unusual diseases or operations,” Dr. Ellison said. “We’re covering practical considerations: How do I work the patient up? How do I treat them? What are the outcomes I can expect? What can I tell my patient? I think surgeons in community practice benefit the most, as well as resident trainees in general surgery.”

The presentations also broach topics outside of patient care, instead focusing on vital considerations for the surgeon. One example from this year’s programming is a discussion on “the surgeon as a victim.” During an operation, complications can arise that are outside of the surgeon’s control, yet they may trigger depression for the surgeon. Speaker Daniel S. Eiferman, MD, FACS, will address overcoming the psychological toll related to these events.

“I think that topic is really important because to maintain an effective and highly functioning workforce, you must help them maintain their emotional well-being and resilience,” Dr. Ellison said. “I think this is an opportunity for surgeons all over the United States to see that this is something that happens. It’s a normal reaction to unexpected complications. Every institution should set up a program to help surgeons deal with these situations.”

The full agenda for this year’s session includes:

• Pancreatic Incidentalomas: Observe or Operate, Fabian M. Johnston, MD, FACS, Baltimore, MD
• “I Hit the Aorta” — The Surgeon as Victim, Daniel S. Eiferman, MD, FACS, Columbus, OH
• New Frontiers in Intraoperative Nerve Monitoring for Thyroid/Parathyroid Operations, Quan-Yang Duh, MD, FACS, San Francisco, CA
• Is there an Optimal Treatment for Parastomal Hernia?, Arielle Perez, MD, FACS, Chapel Hill, NC
• Hyperbaric Oxygen Use: When and Why, Mark D. Iafrati, MD, FACS, Nashville, TN
• Current Controversies in Clostridium Difficile Colitis, Emily S. Huang, MD, FACS, Columbus, OH
• Gallbladder Polyps — Operate or Observe?, Nathaniel J. Soper, MD, FACS, Phoenix, AZ
• Inguinal Hernias in Females: Laparoscopic Repair or Open?, William W. Hope, MD, FACS, Wilmington, NC
• Whole Blood Use in Trauma, Richard S. Miller, MD, FACS, Fort Worth, TX

For those who are unable to attend the session, it will be livestreamed and made available for on-demand viewing within an hour after the live presentation.