The Legacy of Congress Presentations at BAPS

Mark Davenport

Christine Lam

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Bishop Berkeley once asked

BAPS 2026 has now finished after much chatter, debate, and discourse. Over 40 papers have been submitted with their authors eager to sustain the applause in the hall with a more permanent record as a published Journal of Pediatric Surgery (JPS) piece. Indeed, 20 will go on to achieve that in the Congress issue next year (you will be hearing soon!).

But what of past published papers?  Could we pose the same question “if a BAPS paper is published does anyone listen?”

Christine Lam and I tried to answer this question – what is the legacy of BAPS papers – by looking back into Congresses past (2008-2024) and gauging who has been listening enough to cite the paper subsequently  in their own work [1].  It turns out that quite a few did just this with median life-time citations reaching 35 (IQR 14-58) from a total of 393 papers published in the JPS. USA-sourced material did better than if from the UK or the Rest of World, presumably because if you had gone to trouble to fly across the Atlantic you’d probably bring your best work.

There were some stellar citation counts reached with the best being from Houston, Texas on Prenatal Diagnosis and Outcome of Fetal Lung Masses by Darrell L Cass et al. with 132 citations, originally presented at the 2010, BAPS (1). Table 1 illustrates the past 6 years’ best performing papers – the Hall of Fame.

Of course, with all these winners there were some papers that no one has heard from again. In the full paper we list these – the Hall of Shame– and interestingly three of them originated in Scotland, two were Invited Lectures and two were on pure science topics – surprising really. I had the singular honour and privilege to feature in both Tables!

In conclusion, published BAPS papers in the Journal have a great legacy with people taking notice from around the world.

Full paper published in Journal of Pediatric Surgery OPEN.  [View pdf]

Table – Hall of Fame – Highest Cited Papers (2018 – 2024)

Congress Year	Title	1st author	Hospital	Country	Citations
2018	Current epidemiology and antenatal presentation of posterior urethral valves: Outcome of BAPS CASS National Audit DOI: 10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2018.10.091	Brownlee E	Multicentre		66
2019	Thoracic duct-to-vein anastomosis for the management of thoracic duct outflow obstruction in newborns and infants: a CASE series DOI: 10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2019.10.029	Reisen B	Children’s Hospital, Philadelphia		45
2021	Next day discharge after the Nuss procedure using intercostal nerve cryoablation, intercostal nerve blocks, and a perioperative ERAS pain protocol DOI: 10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2021.10.034	DiFiore JW	Cleveland Clinic, Ohio		39
2022	Thoracoscopic approach for oesophageal atresia: A real game changer? DOI: 10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2022.10.017	Patkowski D	Wroclaw Medical University,		19
2023	Surgical Management of Central Lymphatic Conduction Disorders: A Review DOI: 10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2023.10.039	Laje P	Children’s Hospital, Philadelphia		11
2024	Robotic Surgery in Paediatric Oncology: Expanding Boundaries and Defining Relevant Indications DOI: 10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2024.162017	Blanc T	Hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades , Paris		4

References

1. Cass DL, Olutoye OO, Cassady CI, Moise KJ, Johnson A, Papanna R, Lazar DA, Ayres NA, Belleza-Bascon B. Prenatal diagnosis and outcome of fetal lung masses. J Pediatr Surg. 2011 Feb;46(2):292-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2010.11.004.

Prof Mark Davenport   

King’s College Hospital