Under review, in the last paragrapg, intorduce the word "local" before the complications, since the complications detailed are primarily local complications.

Under discussion, restructure the english in the sentence about the use of prophylactic drains. A suggestion may be.. "drains are used prophylactically to decrease the postoperative collection of fluid etc."

While the article in its present form is reasonably well written, i am not able to access any data that actually adds any information to an otherwise bland treatise. The question the authors raise is an interesting one and i would like to see data on comparative studies between what they classify as active and passive drainage.

As a final observation, i observe many minor errors in pagination and the spacing of commas, spacing and fullstops, which when corrected will eliminate nuisance value for the reader.

In summary, the article and topic in its present form is worth publication with the addition of supportive data from their study which i dont seem to be able to find in the present form of the article. Without the data, it is more like a comment rather than an article of interest.

The topic is worth looking at and i would be interested in outcomes between two arms of the study.

• competing interests: None
• Invited by the author to make a review on this article? :
• Experience and credentials in the specific area of science:

  Twenty years

• Publications in the same or a related area of science: No
  
• References: None