The Value of Anecdote

• Published in: Annals of vascular surgery Vol. 28; no. 3; pp. 536 - 541
• Main Authors: Parodi, Juan C, Parodi, Federico E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier Inc 01.04.2014
• Subjects: Aged; Anecdotes as Topic; Aortic Aneurysm - diagnosis; Aortic Aneurysm - history; Aortic Aneurysm - surgery; Aortography; Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation - history; Diffusion of Innovation; Echocardiography, Transesophageal; Endovascular Procedures - history; Evidence-Based Medicine; History, 20th Century; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Peripheral Arterial Disease - diagnosis; Peripheral Arterial Disease - history; Peripheral Arterial Disease - surgery; Surgery; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; Treatment Outcome; United States; Vascular Surgical Procedures - history; Vascular System Injuries - diagnosis; Vascular System Injuries - history; Vascular System Injuries - surgery; United States
• ISSN: 0890-5096; 1615-5947
• DOI: 10.1016/j.avsg.2014.01.003

Anecdote is defined as “a usually short narrative of an interesting, amusing, or biographical incident” and are not often deemed scientifically valuable ( www.merriam-webster.com ). Anecdotes can be analyzed, however, and those observations can become the initiation of important and groundbreaking work. In this article, we describe aecdotes of several cases which by themselves had seemingly little value. The value was added later, when these concepts were extrapolated to important projects, which expanded into series of experiences, which were reproducible and able to be analyzed and judged as valuable devices and/or methods. The authors recognize that some of the images are old and not of great quality but the information provided is as complete as possible and reliable.