SAGES masters program: determining the seminal articles for each pathway

Background: The Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) has recently developed and announced its Masters Program that aims to address existing needs of practicing surgeons for lifelong learning and consists of eight clinical pathways each containing three anchoring procedures. The objective of this study was to select the seminal articles for each anchoring procedure of these pathways using a systematic methodology. Methods: A systematic literature search of Web of Science was conducted for the most cited articles for each of the anchoring procedures of the SAGES Masters pathways. The most relevant identified articles were then reviewed by expert members of the relevant SAGES pathway committees and task forces and the seminal articles chosen for each anchoring procedure using expert consensus. Results: 578 highly cited articles were identified by the original search of the literature and the seminal articles were selected for each anchoring procedure after expert review and consensus. Articles address procedural outcomes, disease pathophysiology, and surgical technique and are presented in this paper. Conclusions: We have identified seminal articles for each anchoring procedure of the SAGES Masters program pathways using a systematic methodology. These articles provide surgeon participants of this program with a great resource to improve their procedure-specific knowledge and may further benefit the larger surgical community by focusing its attention to must-read impactful work that may inform best practices.