New Ways to Calculate the Risks of Surgery
By LAURA LANDRO
WSJ
Facing abdominal surgery for colon and uterine cancer, Kathleen Rivard listened last Thursday as Stuart Bussell, her surgeon at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut, laid out the odds: a 1% risk of death, an 18% risk of a complication like an infection at the surgical incision site, and an 8% chance of a more serious complication like cardiac arrest.
It wasn't just an educated guess: Dr. Bussell used a new risk calculator that handicaps an individual patient's chances of surgical complications based on personal medical history and physical condition. It also helps doctors and patients make tough decisions about procedures.
For Ms. Rivard, who is 67 years old, factors including her age, blood pressure and weight lifted her risks—though the surgeon was able to reassure her that they weren't out of line, and that any complication would be manageable.
Risk calculators, used by heart surgeons for several years, are now being developed for other surgical specialties. The American College of Surgeons recently introduced calculators for surgery of the colon and pancreas, and is designing similar tools for 18 other procedures, including gastric bypass, hernia repair and prostate surgery. The calculators use data from more than one million patient records gathered as part of the group's National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, which works with hospitals to reduce surgical errors and complications.
(Continued here.)
WSJ
Facing abdominal surgery for colon and uterine cancer, Kathleen Rivard listened last Thursday as Stuart Bussell, her surgeon at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut, laid out the odds: a 1% risk of death, an 18% risk of a complication like an infection at the surgical incision site, and an 8% chance of a more serious complication like cardiac arrest.
It wasn't just an educated guess: Dr. Bussell used a new risk calculator that handicaps an individual patient's chances of surgical complications based on personal medical history and physical condition. It also helps doctors and patients make tough decisions about procedures.
For Ms. Rivard, who is 67 years old, factors including her age, blood pressure and weight lifted her risks—though the surgeon was able to reassure her that they weren't out of line, and that any complication would be manageable.
Risk calculators, used by heart surgeons for several years, are now being developed for other surgical specialties. The American College of Surgeons recently introduced calculators for surgery of the colon and pancreas, and is designing similar tools for 18 other procedures, including gastric bypass, hernia repair and prostate surgery. The calculators use data from more than one million patient records gathered as part of the group's National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, which works with hospitals to reduce surgical errors and complications.
(Continued here.)
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