See also amputation by internet

doi:10.1136/bmj.a3142

Published 6 January 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.a3142
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:a3142

Letters

Amputation by text

See also amputation by internet

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The two surgeons who, 7000 km apart, collaborated by text tosuccessfully perform a forequarter amputation highlights howdetailed expert operative information can be provided and transmittedto any part of the world.¹

Since 2001, one of us (MHE) has been writing and developingoperation scripts to provide all the information that an expertuses when operating.² This means 10 or more times the informationin an operative textbook or manual.

At Wikisurgery, the free online surgical encyclopaedia, over50 such scripts have been available to any visitor to the websitesince 2006.³ The scripts can also be sent as text messages.They include three amputation operations.⁴ ⁵ ⁶

The scripts are open to comment, discussion, addition, and editingby approved users.

The site also contains online training programmes in basic surgicalskills and basic laparoscopic operations.

Wikisurgery is sponsored by the International Journal of Surgery.³We provide operative information via . . . [Full text of this article]

Michael H Edwards, web consultant¹, Riaz Agha, administrative editor¹

¹ Wikisurgery

michael@wikisurgery.com