Our perception of “Women’s positive perception of transvaginal NOTES surgery”: Let the voices be heard, not just counted

Excerpt

The last months have seen an increasing number in publications about natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES): editorials, reviews, statements, some experimental work, case-reports/series, and even systematic reviews of the many still nonstandardized techniques. Most do not stand apart methodologically from the bulk of published studies in surgical science. In that sense, it was with great interest that we read the paper by Peterson and colleagues, entitled “Women’s Positive Perception of Transvaginal NOTES Surgery” [1], thinking we would find a new and interesting approach. The title contains an eye-catching remark, which we considered quite bold from the authors to make, namely that “[there is a] women’s positive perception of transvaginal NOTES surgery.” Upon reading the work, we found that this remark was not supported in the article. We argue, in fact, that such conclusion could not be reached in principle with the methodology that the authors used. …