Surgical innovation, industry partnership, and the enemy within.

Abstract

Innovation is an integral part of the practice of surgery. Itis a concept that many surgeons are familiar with, butmany do not fully appreciate the issues surrounding surgi-cal innovation and partnership with industry. Herein, wereview key issues and concepts of surgical innovation,industry partnership, and the potential pitfalls that arepresent. We conclude with principles that every surgeonshould maintain when pursuing surgical innovation.