Research Potpourri of Surgical Outcome Analyses

Presenter: Kristina Nicholson, MD (advisor: Linwah Yip, MD & Sally Carty, MD)

Thyroid nodules: Indeterminate thyroid nodules have long presented a diagnostic challenge - how do we avoid surgery for ultimately benign nodules without missing malignancy? Molecular marker testing provides a solution, but follow-up of mutation-negative nodules is excluded from current guidelines, and literature following this subset of nodules is limited. Here, we retrospectively explore our own institution's experience and explore following patients prospectively with a registry. 

Venous thromboembolism (VTE): Patients are at increased risk of VTE after trauma. Post-discharge VTE prophylaxis has previously been shown to be beneficial and cost-effective in specific populations in orthopedic surgery and oncology, but this has not previously been explored in a trauma population. We start the conversation here with a theoretical cost-effectiveness model.