The importance of utilizing the SUPER reporting guideline for surgical technique

Surgery is a vital field of clinical treatment; however, its existence cannot subsist without the proper and effective dissemination of surgical technique. Surgical technique, which can be defined as “the specific way and skills of performing a particular medical operation” (1) is the cornerstone of a successful surgery. As Brooke once said, “Creatures of custom, that’s what we surgeons are” (2). Technique is often taught in the operating room and through videos and lectures, but the standardized reporting of surgical technique in the literature remains a critical manner in which its precise implementation and objective evaluation can occur. Various reporting guidelines have been developed over decades in efforts to improve the quality of publications (3-7), however most of them address the entire surgical process or simply name the intervention without specifically focusing on the details or the benefits and disadvantages of the technique. Zhang et al. (8) state that one reason behind this could simply be that we currently lack a guideline with sufficient information of the requirements for a detailed report that can applied to all surgical subspecialties. Therefore, they developed the Surgical techniqUe repoRting chEcklist and standaRds (SUPER) reporting guideline (8).

This checklist provides intraoperative guidelines for the surgical technique rather than focusing on perioperative care. It targets the treatment of abnormalities in people rather than focusing on the diagnosis. It is not limited to randomized controlled trials, observational studies, or case series and reports. The SUPER guideline provides 22 items that are distributed across six sections: background, rationale, and objectives (items 1 to 5); preoperative preparations and requirements (items 6 to 9); surgical technique details (items 10 to 15); postoperative considerations and tasks (items 16 to 19); summary and prospect (items 20 and 21); and other information (item 22).

The SUPER is a great tool that aids the reporting of everchanging surgical techniques that has come with the introduction of minimally invasive approaches like laparoscopic and robotic surgery. Although images and videos greatly support the reporting of these approaches, they are often lacking within the article and videos lose impact due to absence or audio or captions (9,10). Along with graphics, the SUPER can be used in a systematic manner by thoroughly fulfilling the 22 items listed to assist surgeons in their reporting of surgical technique, thereby facilitating reproducibility and most importantly benefiting patients.

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