It is possible that these observational data substantially underestimates the real potential of early surgery. The reason is that the "early surgery" in these studies occurred within 24, 48 or 72 hours. If surgery could be uniformly undertaken within 6 hours, given the potential benefits of earlier mobilization and minimization of the period of the inflammatory hypercoagulable state, the benefits might be substantially greater. The substantial impact of treatment of acute myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke within hours adds credence to this possibility.