Naming convention for procedures using a surgical approach

30 April 2020

Input on surgical approach naming convention

@Cathy Richardson

Please post your final responses in the Country response table below. Discussion comments can be made as comments.

 Netherlands

 30 April

In Dutch, we would usually put the approach in front of the procedure. E.g. 'abdominal repair of diaphragmatic hernia'; 'subclavian decompression of nerve'; 'laparoscopic abdominal hysterectomy'; etc. However, using a signal word is probably clearer. We think 'using' and 'by' would probably both be suitable, and 'by' would cause less confusion because you could then reserve 'using' for devices.

Denmark

2020-05-05

I can see that in our translation, we have used the same wording for all three examples - probably what is closest to 'by ... approach'. In our ICD translation however, we have used 'via.... approach'.

 I think that both ‘by’ and ‘via’ describes the route (latin: via) while 'using' is in connection with some device or method.

Australia

2020-05-08

I agree with the above, "using" is more applicable to something physical (a device). "via" or "by" work - note this definition of "via" has "by way of".

I'd probably preference "via" for approach, less word. "by" could be reserved for "techniques"?

Also, this is probably just for FSN and Core PTs. As we'd probably also do something similar to Netherlands and reorder/drop words etc. Possibly best to be guided by the members doing translations.

Belgium

2020-05-12

For these procedures, it seems we translate the FSN quitte literally with keeping the 'approach' at the end of the translated term; The translation and use of 'by', 'using', or 'via' depends on the context as we do not translate 'approach' for each concept in the same way... But at this moment I do not recognise any logical translation pattern.

 United Kingdom

 2020-05-18

 In a fairly recent substantial piece of work we undertook in consultation with cosmetic surgeons, their preferred representation was 'using .... approach', .and this is the most frequent representation for UK content generally, in relation to 'approach'. The phrasing of further elements would depend on what those elements were, but again, 'using' appears to be the more common representation - 'using mesh' / 'using xxx (imaging) guidance', although things like 'contrast' are always 'with'.

 Norway

2020-05-27 

 In our national terminology for surgical procedures, the type of access is generally placed early in the description. We agree with Denmark and Australia regarding the meaning of using is connected to an instrument/device. If anatomic access is to be expressed by a prepositional phrase, not early in the description, "via" seems to be the most precise word. "By" is also a possibility, but "by" should probably be reserved for "techniques"..

 New Zealand

 2020- 05-29

 We agree with Australia: "via" for approach and "using" for medical device for the FSN. We would frequently use approach before procedure (as with the Netherlands) in the PT but suggest that this may lead to some ambiguity if in the FSN.

Sweden

2020-06-01 

Swedish translation guidance is (naturally) different from English translation guidance. It seems strange that we have an opinion in this matter being non-English native speakers, though it's great that all English speakers chime in!

 USA

 06JUN2020

 Looking at CPT for reference, but far from exhaustively:

• there seems to be a predominance of BY to introduce the approach (e.g., Partial adrenalectomy by dorsal approach)

• while USING generally introduces a device (e.g., Occlusion of fallopian tube using clip by vaginal approach)

• there seems to be mixed usage of VIA

  • as a synonym of BY preceding the approach, especially in the case of percutaneous or open approaches (e.g., Transcatheter insertion of stent of innominate artery via percutaneous approach; Transcatheter insertion of stent of common carotid artery via open approach)

  • to indicate the route through a blood vessel (e.g., Transcatheter mitral valve repair percutaneous approach via the coronary sinus)

NB: The approach is sometimes indicated with an adjective rather than introduced by a preposition (e.g., Percutaneous removal of internally dwelling ureteral stent with radiological supervision and interpretation)

Member countries without a CMAG rep