Behind The Knife: The Surgery Podcast

Every spring for over 50 years, the Trauma, Critical Care, and Acute Care Surgery conference, best known simply as the MATTOX conference, is held in Las Vegas (https://www.trauma-criticalcare.com/).  The conference is unique in that it is entirely focused on practice-changing clinical education. It’s a damn good time too!  A favorite feature is the annual debates.  Today, we are featuring a showdown between Drs. Ryan Dumas and Bellal Joseph (@TopKniFe_B) as they battle it out over the use of TRAUMA VIDEO REVIEW.  You can listen on the podcast or watch the debate with accompanying slides on our website or app.  Let's get ready to RUMMMBLLLEEEE! Video Link: https://app.behindtheknife.org/video/mattox-conference-pro-con-debate-2025-trauma-video-review TRAUMA SURGERY VIDEO ATLAS: https://app.behindtheknife.org/course-details/trauma-surgery-video-atlas Preparing for the deadliest injuries is challenging, and currently available resources are limited. That is why we created the Behind the Knife Trauma Surgery

In this episode of the Big T Trauma Series, Dr. Patrick Georgoff (@georgoff) and Dr. Jason Brill dive into the evolving world of Trauma Video Review (TVR) with special guests Dr. Michael Vella and Dr. Ryan Dumas. Together, they explore how TVR is transforming trauma care by offering unprecedented insight into both technical and non-technical performance in the trauma bay. The conversation covers everything from implementation logistics and HIPAA concerns to cultural shifts and emerging AI applications. Whether you're curious about getting started or wondering if TVR should be part of trauma verification, this episode delivers essential insights from two national leaders in the space. Don’t miss it! Dr. Ryan Dumas is an associate professor of surgery at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston Texas where he serves as the Section Chief of Acute Care Surgery.  Dr. Dumas conducts and publishes research in trauma surgery and artificial intelligence, with a specific emphasis on video technology to capture and review

The incidence of early onset colorectal cancer (EOCRC) has been rising prompting the change in change in screening guidelines to 45 years of age for average risk patients. Join us for an in-depth discussion with guest speakers Dr. Andrea Cercek and Dr. Nancy You, where we provide a comprehensive look at the growing challenge of EOCRC. Hosts: - Dr. Janet Alvarez - General Surgery Resident at New York Medical College/Metropolitan Hospital Center - Dr. Wini Zambare – General Surgery Resident at Weill Cornell Medical Center/New York Presbyterian - Dr. Phil Bauer, Graduating Colorectal Surgical Oncology Fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center  - Dr. J. Joshua Smith MD, PhD, Chair, Department of Colon and Rectal Surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center - Dr. Andrea Cercek - Gastrointestinal Medical Oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center - Dr. Y. Nancy You, MD MHSc - Professor, Department of Colon and Rectal Surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center Learning objectives:  - Describe trends in incid

You have probably seen recent headlines that Microsoft has developed an AI model that is 4x more accurate than humans at difficult diagnoses. It’s been published everywhere, AI is 80% accurate compared to a measly 20% human rate, and AI was cheaper too! Does this signal the end of the human physician? Is the title nothing more than clickbait? Or is the truth somewhere in-between? Join Behind the Knife fellow Ayman Ali and Dr. Adam Rodman from Beth Israel Deaconess/Harvard Medical School to discuss what this study means for our future.       Studies: Sequential Diagnosis with Large Language Models: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.22405v1 METR study: https://metr.org/blog/2025-07-10-early-2025-ai-experienced-os-dev-study/ Hosts: Ayman Ali, MD Ayman Ali is a Behind the Knife fellow and general surgery PGY-4 at Duke Hospital in his academic development time where he focuses on applications of data science and artificial intelligence to surgery.  Adam Rodman, MD, MPH, FACP, @AdamRodmanMD Dr. Rodman is an Assistant

Join us as we dissect the use of robotics in bariatric surgery – where precision meets programming, and the scalpel gets a software upgrade. Video Clip Link: https://app.behindtheknife.org/video/clinical-challenges-in-robotic-bariatric-surgery-the-robot-is-here-to-stay This videos includes: - Robotic RYGB - Robotic Sleeve Gastrectomy - SADI: Single Anastomosis Duodenoileostomy Hosts:  - Matthew Martin, trauma and bariatric surgeon at the University of Southern California/Los Angeles General Medical Center (Los Angeles, California) - Adrian Dan, bariatric and MIS surgeon, program director for the advanced MIS bariatric and foregut fellowship at Summa Health System (Akron, Ohio) -  Crystal Johnson Mann, bariatric and foregut surgeon at the University of Florida (Gainesville, Florida) - Katherine Cironi, general surgery resident at the University of Southern California/Los Angeles General Medical Center (Los Angeles, California) Learning objectives:  Strengths of the robot:  Surgical robots are at the foref

It’s 2 a.m. The on-call resident’s voice is shaky. The CT shows an 18cm abdominal aortic aneurysm with a Type 1B endoleak. There’s gas in the sac, fluid in the belly, and the patient has a defibrillator on both sides of his chest. Is it a rupture? A graft infection? An aortoenteric fistula? All of the above? You’re the vascular surgeon, what do you do?  This episode dives deep into decision-making when EVAR fails, when infection strikes, and when the patient might not survive a definitive repair. Let’s talk about what happens when clinical textbooks meet real-world chaos. Hosts: ·      Christian Hadeed -PGY 4 General Surgery, Brookdale Hospital Medical Center ·      Paul Haser -Division chief, Vascular Surgery, Brookdale Hospital Medical Center ·      Andrew Harrington, Vascular surgery, Brookdale Hospital Medical Center ·      Lucio Flores, Vascular surgery, Brookdale Hospital Medical Center Learning objectives: · Understand the clinical implications and management of late EVAR complications, including

In the corner of the ICU, on multiple pressors, distended, oliguric, and intubated you’ll find the necrotizing pancreatitis patient. Sounds intimidating, but with the persistence, patience, and the proper care these patients can make it! In this episode from the HPB team at Behind the Knife listen in as we discuss the Step-Up approach, when to surgically intervene, various approaches to pancreatic Necrosectomy, and additional aspects of the multidisciplinary care required for the successful treatment of necrotizing pancreatitis.  Hosts Anish J. Jain MD (@anishjayjain) is a current PGY3 General Surgery Resident at Stanford University and a former T32 Research Fellow at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Jon M. Harrison is a 2nd year HPB Surgery Fellow at Stanford University. He will be joining as faculty at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA at the conclusion of his fellowship in July 2024.    Learning Objectives ·      Develop an understanding of the severity of necrotizing pa

RE-RELEASE This was first published in 2023 but it's so good we are running it back! Buckle up, PGY-1’s! Intern year is starting whether you’re ready or not. Don’t fret, BTK has your back to make sure you dominate the first year of residency.  In this last episode of the intern bootcamp mini-series, we’ll talk about tips & tricks as well as good habits to establish in order to dominate intern year. Hosts: Shanaz Hossain, Nina Clark Tips for New Interns:  GENERAL TIPS FOR SUCCESS ON THE WARDS Spend time with the patient! Trust, but verify. Be kind to everyone. Stay humble. Be flexible. Seek and apply feedback. HOW TO LEARN IN THE OR Double scrub as many cases as you can. Write down/record everything after a case. MAINTAIN YOUR PERSONAL SANITY Figure out your stress outlets and what brings you joy. Decompress after work. Maintain work/life boundaries. Keep in touch with loved ones. Vacations are meant for relaxation.Repeat after me: NO WORK ON VACATION! Please visit https://behindtheknife.o

RE-RELEASE This was first published in 2023 but it's so good we are running it back! Buckle up, PGY-1’s! Intern year is starting whether you’re ready or not. Don’t fret, BTK has your back to make sure you dominate the first year of residency. Today, we’re hitting the wards and tackling some of the scary clinical scenarios you will see as an intern. Hosts: Shanaz Hossain, Nina Clark Tips for new interns: THINGS TO REMEMBER ·       BREATHE. In most cases, you have a little bit of time – at least enough to take a breath and calm down outside the room before heading into an emergency. Panic doesn’t help anybody. ·       See the patient. Getting a bunch of pages? Worried about someone? Confused as to what’s going on? Go see the patient and chat with the bedside team. ·       Know your toolbox. There are a ton of people around who can help you in the hospital, and knowing the basic labs/imaging studies and when to use them can help you to triage even the sickest patients. ·       Load the boat. You’ve heard th

RE-RELEASE This was first published in 2023 but it's so good we are running it back! Buckle up, PGY-1’s! Intern year is starting whether you’re ready or not. Don’t fret, BTK has your back to make sure you dominate the first year of residency.  This episode, we’ll talk about how to give and receive consults in the hospital like a pro. We’ll also provide some tips on how to make those long call days a little more manageable. Hosts: Shanaz Hossain, Nina Clark Tips for New Interns:  GIVING CONSULTS Clear and Concise Question! Develop a script, such as: “Hi, this is XX with the general surgery team. We’re calling to request an evaluation for a patient presenting with XX. I can give you the MRN whenever you are ready…” Follow this with a brief H&P. If you are asking another team to perform a procedure on your patient, be prepared with the following information: NPO Status Ability to Consent or Proxy Contact Blood Thinners Urgency of Procedure RECEIVING CONSULTS Make sure you are clear on what th

RE-RELEASE This was first published in 2023 but it's so good we are running it back! Buckle up, PGY-1’s! Intern year is starting whether you’re ready or not. Don’t fret, BTK has your back to make sure you dominate the first year of residency.  You’ve been a doctor for about 3.5 seconds, and suddenly that bright eyed, bushy-tailed medical student on service is looking to you for advice? Don’t fret, in this episode we’ll give you some tips for how to handle it. Hosts: Shanaz Hossain, Nina Clark Tips for new interns: REMEMBER HOW INTERNS DO AND DO NOT TEACH - Nobody, not even the med students, expect you to be an expert in everything or give a fully-planned formal lecture - You WILL however spend a ton of time working with students on your team – and via modeling and teachable moments, you can help them learn how it’s done! MODELING - Remember how hard everything has been in the few days since you started residency? Think about all the information you’ve picked up, tips and tricks you’re developing for effi

RE-RELEASE This was first published in 2023 but it's so good we are running it back! Buckle up, PGY-1’s! Intern year is starting whether you’re ready or not. Don’t fret, BTK has your back to make sure you dominate the first year of residency.  This episode, we’ll tackle the resources that you should know about to support your own learning throughout residency. Hosts: Shanaz Hossain, Nina Clark Tips for new interns: STRUCTURE YOUR STUDYING - 2 things you need to do: (1) develop a knowledge base and (2) answer questions - Knowledge base Pick a level-appropriate textbook, read it (ideally all of it) yearly.  Ideally, lead a little bit every day - 10 pages/day is a good goal to start with and you may need to adjust.  - Questions Do some questions every week – 50/week is a good goal to start Plan to do more questions closer to ABSITE! Consider storing everything you learn in one place – either a notebook you carry with you or a cloud-based note app Share this with others, use it to take notes while reading,

RE-RELEASE This was first published in 2023 but it's so good we are running it back! Buckle up, PGY-1’s! Intern year is starting whether you’re ready or not. Don’t fret, BTK has your back to make sure you dominate the first year of residency. First up, the first day of intern year. Hosts: Shanaz Hossain, Nina Clark Tips for new interns: BRING WHAT YOU NEED Name badge Scrubs, white coat, and extra clinic clothes Comfortable shoes - even on clinic days Pager Phone Pen Bonus stuff that’s good to keep in your bag: Snacks, extras of everything, toothbrusth/toothpaste/deodorant, suture  STAY ORGANIZED Preround purposefully and systematically  Look at the same things in the same order every day on every patient Write data in the same physical location on your sheet so you can quickly find information on the fly  Keep track of to-do’s from rounds Check box system:  Nina’s system: empty = not done, half full = ordered/needs follow up, full = completely done and followed up on  Don’t forget to look at th

In this surgical education episode, the Cleveland Clinic General Surgery Education Team explores the past, present, and future of resident autonomy in the operating room. With guest colorectal surgeons Dr. Tracy Hull (recently retired) and Dr. David Rosen (early career faculty), we discuss how autonomy was granted in “the good ole days,” how educational culture and institutional pressures shape current practice, and what thoughtful autonomy looks like moving forward. Through candid stories—from emergent cases and missed enterotomies to thumbtacks pulled off the wall to stop bleeding—we get a nuanced look at what surgical independence really means, and how to responsibly develop it. Join hosts Pooja Varman, MD, Judith French, PhD, and Jeremy Lipman, MD, MHPE, for this conversation about what it means to train competent, confident, and independent surgeons. Learning Objectives By the end of this episode, listeners will be able to  1.     Define operative autonomy and its educational value in surgical training

Join the Behind the Knife Surgical Oncology Team as we discuss the two key studies investigating optimal management strategies of neuroendocrine tumors of the small bowel. Hosts: - Timothy Vreeland, MD, FACS (@vreelant) is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and Surgical Oncologist at Brooke Army Medical Center - Daniel Nelson, DO, FACS (@usarmydoc24) is Surgical Oncologist/HPB surgeon at Kaiser LAMC in Los Angeles. - Connor Chick, MD (@connor_chick) is a 2nd Year Surgical Oncology fellow at Ohio State University. - Lexy (Alexandra) Adams, MD, MPH (@lexyadams16) is a 1st Year Surgical Oncology fellow at MD Anderson. - Beth (Elizabeth) Barbera, MD (@elizcarpenter16) is a PGY-6 General Surgery resident at Brooke Army Medical Center Learning Objectives: In this episode we review two important papers that discuss optimal management strategies of neuroendocrine tumors (NET) of the small bowel.  The first paper by Singh and colleagues discusses the NETTER-

You have a patient with complicated diverticulitis s/p IR drain with colo-cutaneous fistula and colo-vaginal fistula. They are scheduled for surgery. How will you do it? What is the role for hand assist? How can hand assist help? Tune in to find out! Join Drs. Peter Marcello, Jonathan Abelson, and Tess Aulet as they discuss high yield papers discussing hand assist laparoscopy in Colon and Rectal surgery.  Learning Objectives 1. Describe the technical considerations and how to do hand assist laparoscopic surgery (HALS) 2. Discuss the indications for use of HALS 3. Review literature supporting use of HALS Video Link: https://app.behindtheknife.org/video/journal-review-in-colorectal-surgery-hand-assist-laparoscopy-in-colon-and-rectal-surgery References: Marcello PW, Fleshman JW, Milsom JW, Read TE, Arnell TD, Birnbaum EH, Feingold DL, Lee SW, Mutch MG, Sonoda T, Yan Y, Whelan RL. Hand-assisted laparoscopic vs. laparoscopic colorectal surgery: a multicenter, prospective, randomized trial. Dis Colon Rectum.

Intern year: where the learning curve is steep and you’re not sure if the patient is crashing or you are. In this episode of Behind the Knife, our surgical education fellows reflect on what they wish they had known before Day 1—and all the humbling, hilarious, and genuinely formative moments along the way. From getting lost wheeling a critical patient through the hospital, to triple-scrubbing just to be acknowledged, to accidentally spraying TPA into your own eye (yes, really)—this episode is a candid conversation about the highs, lows, and everything in between. Whether you're gearing up to start your intern year or reflecting on how far you've come, this is the episode we all needed. Hosts:  Elizabeth Maginot, MD – General Surgery Resident, University of Nebraska Medical Center  @e_magination95 Nina Clark, MD – General Surgery Resident, University of Washington @clarkninam Ayman Ali, MD – General Surgery Resident, Duke University Michelle LaBella, MD – General Surgery Resident, University of North Carol

This new series will be a collaboration between BTK and Annals of Surgery, where we will be discussing hot topics in surgery research. No, we won’t be getting into the nitty gritty of methods of individual papers but rather will focus on high-level discussions of contemporary topics that are moving our field forward. Hosts: Cody Mullens, MD is a general surgery resident at the University of Michigan, current Behind the Knife Surgery Education Fellow. (@Cody_Mullens) Justin B. Dimick, MD MPH is the Fredrick A Coller Distinguished Professor and Chair of Surgery at the University of Michigan. He also serves as the Editor in Chief at Annals of Surgery. (@jdimick1) Please visit https://behindtheknife.org to access other high-yield surgical education podcasts, videos and more.   If you liked this episode, check out our recent episodes here: https://app.behindtheknife.org/listen

The evidence for climate change is irrefutable. But how does surgical care contribute to global emissions, and is there anything we can do to make surgery more sustainable? Join Jon Williams and our ASGBI partners for the next installment of our BTK/ASGBI collaborative series, where we discuss how to make surgical care greener. Mrs. Cleo Kennington from the UK and Dr. Benjamin Miller from the US are our guest experts, and provide valuable insights into local sustainability efforts you can take home to your hospital, broader concepts of how high-quality care is sustainable, innovations in sustainability, and what the future of sustainable surgery may look like. After listening, you get to decide–Who has more sustainable surgical practices? The UK or US? Mrs. Cleo Kenington is a Consultant Emergency General and Trauma Surgeon at St George’s Hospital, London and was the recent ASGBI Sustainability Lead. She is a big advocate for practicing what she preaches, focusing on how we can reduce the environmental impac

Join Drs. Michael Rosen, Benjamin T. Miller, Sara Maskal, and Ryan Ellis as they review mesh materials used in hernia repair and the general properties surgeons who perform hernia repairs should know.  Hosts:    - Sara Maskal, MD, Cleveland Clinic  - Ryan Ellis, MD, Cleveland Clinic - Benjamin T. Miller, MD, Cleveland Clinic  - Michael Rosen, MD, Cleveland Clinic  Learning Objectives:   - Understand common mesh materials  - Review properties of the different mesh materials - Understand how to apply knowledge of the different mesh properties to different patient scenarios References:  - Ellis R, Miller BT. Mesh selection in abdominal wall reconstruction: an update on biomaterials. Surgical Clinics. 2023 Oct 1;103(5):1019-28. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37709387/ - Krpata DM, Petro CC, Prabhu AS, Tastaldi L, Zolin S, Fafaj A, Rosenblatt S, Poulose BK, Pierce RA, Warren JA, Carbonell AM. Effect of hernia mesh weights on postoperative patient-related and clinical outcomes after open ventral hernia repair: