Reply to Poullis. Data capture in aortic registries.

We thank Dr Poullis for his comments [1] on our article [2] and recommendation of his Excel datasheet to record continuous data for variables such as blood pressure, temperature, glucose, lactate and haematocrit. The point that Dr Poullis raises is highly pertinent to surgical studies and databases—howmuch data do we need to record? Continuous data recording during surgery is an admirable goal, as it does indeed capture variations in surgical parameters that cannot be extrapolated through simple summary statistics. However, the utility of such a system is questionablewhen comparedwith the effort required to obtain such data (for example, the Excel datasheet that Dr Poullis proposes require data to be inputted manually). The obstacle with implementing such a system that captures continuous surgical parameters is not just the difficulty in reaching a general consensus on its design and format, but ensuring widespread clinical implementation and usage. Adoption of such systems can be hastened through acceptance and recommendation by professional societies, as well as robust studies demonstrating the scientific and clinical validation of such schemes. In the absence of such evidence, we believe that implementation of these systems may be too much work for too little gain.