Author's Reply: Inconvenient Truth Regarding Operative Emergencies in General Surgery

Comment and Response JAMA Surgery

In Reply We appreciate the thoughtful comments from ten Broek and van Goor regarding the significant contribution of adhesive small-bowel obstructions to the burden of emergency general surgery (EGS), which has often been viewed as a heterogeneous group of unrelated procedures with poor outcomes due to unavoidable circumstances. The diseases were thought to be unpredictable and unpreventable, and the patients seem to have more comorbidities and present with worse diseases. However, when viewed in aggregate,¹ we see very clear themes emerge that offer us the opportunity to effect real change on the national burden of EGS.....