Mandatory second opinion in cytopathology

Routine second-opinion cytopathology review of thyroid fine needle aspiration biopsies reduces diagnostic thyroidectomy.

BACKGROUND Follicular thyroid carcinoma cannot be distinguished reliably from benign follicular neoplasia by fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy. Given an estimated 20% risk of malignancy, many patients with indeterminate FNA biopsies require thyroidectomy for diagnosis. Some centers have shown significant discordance when a second pathologist evaluates the same FNA biopsy. We sought to determi...

Mandatory second opinion to reduce rates of unnecessary caesarean sections in Latin America: a cluster randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND Latin America has a high rate of caesarean sections. We tested the hypothesis that a hospital policy of mandatory second opinion, based on the best existing scientific evidence, reduces the hospital caesarean section rate by 25%, without increasing maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. METHODS 36 hospitals in Argentina (18), Brazil (eight), Cuba (four), Guatemala (two), a...

Indus-Yarlung-Tsangpo Suture Zone Concept- A Second Opinion

It is believed that Greater India migrated from the southern hemisphere, collided with Gondwanaland, Angaraland and Cathaysia, thereby closing an intervening oceanic Tethys along the Indus-Yarlung-Tsangpo Suture Zone (IYTSZ).The suture zone is placed along the Chaman Fault in the Baluchistan-Afghanistan area in the west, and the Indus-Yarlung-Tsangpo in the north, whereas along the east from Th...

Prescription for death: a second opinion.

Expert Opinion and Second-Hand Knowledge

Recent work on testimony and the norms of assertion considers cases of expert testimony. Thinking about expert testimony clarifies which epistemic goods figure in the expectations placed on experts for their knowledge. Examining the distinctive conditions of expert testimony and the assumptions hearers bring to such conversational contexts can provide broader lessons about how knowledge is repr...