Review for 10.1186/s12876-021-01969-1 (2021)

Reviewer’s report
Title: 
Surgical Outcomes of LigaSure Hemorrhoidectomy in the Elderly
Population: A retrospective cohort study
Version: 
0 
Date: 
11 Mar 2021
Reviewer's report:
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This is retrospective review of a large series of patients undergoing LigaSure
haemorrhoidectomy. 
The size of the study, the focus on older patients, the
attention to detail in peri-operative and post -operative care are all excellent. 
It is
certainly a larger series and better observed than many reported in other
publications. In principle I would like to see this study published.
My main concerns relate to the preparation of the manuscript. 
The text is, in
many places, difficult to read as the sentence construction, syntax and grammar
are awkward and in places difficult to understand. 
In other places the text is
repetitive and the paper would be easier to read and more understandable if re-
written. 
There are also mistakes of spelling, punctuation and citation of
references. Furthermore the authors use abbreviations which are either totally
inappropriate in an academic work or which are not explained. 
I did start to make
a list for the authors but after finding about 20 such errors on the first page, and
being unable to edit the PDF directly - then it became an inordinate task to try to
correct all of these. 
There are many inconsistences which show a lack of
attention to the writing - for example the name of the procedure itself is written
in 3 different ways on the first page! - LigaSure haemorrhoidectomy,
LigaSurehaemorrhoidectomy, Ligasurehaemorrhoidectomy. 
Obviously only one
of these is correct and should be used throughout the paper.
There are also problems with the presentation of materials and methods and
results. 
The M&M section contains some points of explanation regarding post
operative medication which would be better placed in the Discussion section.
The results section is hard to navigate with a long narrative regarding each
result. 
A shorter summary with reference to the relevant table would be more
helpful. 
There is also confusion regarding post operative analgesia - in the M&M
section Diclofenac is described, but in the results section usage of ketoprofen is
discussed - with no mention of it as one of the choice of analgesics.
The discussion section repeats quite a significant amount of the results section
and again could do with a substantial re-write.
I will recommend to the editor that although this is a large and well conducted
clinical study, the manuscript should undergo a significant re-write in order to
make it more readable, remove the numerous grammatical and spelling errors,
and clarify the points mentioned above. 
I would also suggest that the manuscript
be submitted to a copy editor in a Word format so that changes can be made
easily and tracked. 
It is extremely difficult for an academic reviewer to make the
number of changes that would be required to raise this paper to an acceptable
publishable standard on a PDF file.
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Declaration of competing interests
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Is the study design appropriate to answer the research question (including the use
of appropriate controls), and are the conclusions supported by the evidence
presented?
Yes
Are the methods sufficiently described to allow the study to be repeated?
Yes
Is the use of statistics and treatment of uncertainties appropriate?
Yes
Is the presentation of the work clear?
No
Are the images in this manuscript (including electrophoretic gels and blots) free
from apparent manipulation?
No