Availability in ECMO Reduces the Failure to Rescue in Patients With Pulmonary Embolism After Major Surgery: A Nationwide Analysis of 2.4 Million Cases.

Objective: Postoperative pulmonary embolism (PE) is a rare but potentially life-threatening complication, which can be treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy, a novel therapy option for acute cardiorespiratory failure. We postulate that hospitals with ECMO availability have more experienced staff, technical capabilities, and expertise in treating cardiorespiratory failure. Design: A retrospective analysis of surgical procedures in Germany between 2012 and 2019 was performed using hospital billing data. High-risk surgical procedures for postoperative PE were analyzed according to the availability of and expertise in ECMO therapy and its effect on outcome, regardless of whether ECMO was used in patients with PE. Methods: Descriptive, univariate, and multivariate analyses were applied to identify possible associations and correct for confounding factors (complications, complication management, and mortality). Results: A total of 13,976,606 surgical procedures were analyzed, of which 2,407,805 were defined as high-risk surgeries. The overall failure to rescue (FtR) rate was 24.4% and increased significantly with patient age, as well as type of surgery. The availability of and experience in ECMO therapy (defined as at least 20 ECMO applications per year; ECMO centers) are associated with a significantly reduced FtR in patients with PE after high-risk surgical procedures. In a multivariate analysis, the odds ratio (OR) for FtR after postoperative PE was significantly lower in ECMO centers (OR, 0.75 [0.70-0.81], P < 0.001). Conclusions: The availability of and expertise in ECMO therapy lead to a significantly reduced FtR rate of postoperative PE. This improved outcome is independent of the use of ECMO in these patients.

The impact of surgical timing on outcome in acute appendicitis in adults - a retrospective observational Population-Based cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Acute appendicitis is a global disease with high incidence. The main objective was to assess the association between time from admission to surgery (TAS) and surgery during emergency hours with operative outcome in light of conflicting evidence. METHODS: This is a retrospective population-wide analysis of hospital billing data (2010-2021) of all adult patient records of surgically treated cases of acute appendicitis in Germany by TAS. The primary outcome was a composite clinical endpoint (CCE; prolonged length of stay, surgical site infection, interventional draining after surgery, revision surgery, intensive care unit admission and/or in-hospital mortality). Cases of complicated appendicitis were identified using diagnosis (ICD-10) and procedural codes (resection beyond appendectomy). RESULTS: 855,694 patient records were included, of which 27·6% (236,481) were complicated cases of acute appendicitis. 49·0% (418,821) were females and median age was 37 (interquartile range 22·5-51·5). Age, male sex, and comorbidity were associated with an increased proportion of CCE and in-hospital mortality. TAS was associated with a clinically relevant increase of CCE after 12 hours in complicated appendicitis (Odd's Ratio, OR, 1·19, 95% Confidence Interval, CI, 1·14-1·21) and after 24 hours in uncomplicated appendicitis (OR 1·10, CI 1·02-1·19). Beyond the primary endpoint, the proportion of complicated appendicitis increased after TAS of 72 hours. Surgery during emergency hours (6 pm - 6.59 am) was associated with an increase of CCE and mortality (OR between 1·14 and 1·49). Age, female sex, nighttime admission, weekend admission, a known previous surgery, obesity, and therapeutic anticoagulation were associated with delayed performance of surgery. CONCLUSION: This work found an increase of a CCE after TAS of 12 hours for complicated appendicitis and an increase of the CCE after TAS of 24 hours for uncomplicated appendicitis with a stable proportion of complicated appendicitis in these time windows. Both CCE and mortality were increased if appendectomy was performed during emergency hours.

Nationwide volume-outcome relationship concerning in-hospital mortality and failure-to-rescue in surgery of sigmoid diverticulitis.

PURPOSE: A correlation between the hospital volume and outcome is described for multiple entities of oncological surgery. To date, this has not been analyzed for the surgical treatment of sigmoid diverticulitis. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of the annual caseload per hospital of colon resection on the postoperative incidence of complications, failure to rescue, and mortality in patients with diverticulitis. METHODS: Patients receiving colorectal resection independent from the diagnosis from 2012 to 2017 were selected from a German nationwide administrative dataset. The hospitals were grouped into five equal caseload quintiles (Q1-Q5 in ascending caseload order). The outcome analysis was focused on patients receiving surgery for sigmoid diverticulitis. RESULTS: In total, 662,706 left-sided colon resections were recorded between 2012 and 2017. Of these, 156,462 resections were performed due to sigmoid diverticulitis and were included in the analysis. The overall in-house mortality rate was 3.5%, ranging from 3.8% in Q1 (mean of 9.5 procedures per year) to 3.1% in Q5 (mean 62.8 procedures per year; p < 0.001). Q5 hospitals revealed a risk-adjusted odds ratio of 0.85 (95% CI 0.78-0.94; p < 0.001) for in-hospital mortality compared to Q1 during multivariable logistic regression analysis. High-volume centers showed overall lower complication rates, whereas the failure-to-rescue did not differ significantly. CONCLUSION: Surgical treatment of sigmoid diverticulitis in high-volume colorectal centers shows lower postoperative mortality rates and fewer postoperative complications.

Impact of the COVID pandemic on major abdominal cancer resections in Germany: a retrospective population-based cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic is estimated to have claimed more than 6 million lives globally since it started in 2019. Germany was exposed to two waves of coronavirus disease 2019 in 2020, one starting in April and the other in October. To ensure sufficient capacity for coronavirus disease 2019 patients in intensive care units, elective medical procedures were postponed. The fraction of major abdominal cancer resections affected by these measures remains unknown, and the most affected patient cohort has yet to be identified. METHODS: This is a register-based, retrospective, nationwide cohort study of anonymized 'diagnosis-related group' billing data provided by the Federal Statistical Office in Germany. Cases were identified using diagnostic and procedural codes for major cancer resections. Population-adjusted cancer resection rates as the primary endpoint were compared at baseline (2012-2019) to those in 2020. RESULTS: A change in resection rates for all analyzed entities (esophageal, gastric, liver, pancreatic, colon, rectum, and lung cancer) was observed from baseline to 2020. Total monthly oncological resections dropped by 7.4% (8.7% normalized to the annual German population, P =0.011). Changes ranged from +3.7% for pancreatic resections ( P =0.277) to -19.4% for rectal resections ( P <0.001). Reductions were higher during lockdown periods. During the first lockdown period (April-June), the overall drop was 14.3% (8.58 per 100 000 vs. 7.35 per 100 000, P <0.001). There was no catch-up effect during the summer months except for pancreatic cancer resections. In the second lockdown period, there was an overall drop of 17.3%. In subgroup analyses, the elderly were most affected by the reduction in resection rates. There was a significant negative correlation between regional SARS-CoV-2 incidences and resections rates. This correlation was strongest for rectal cancer resections (Spearman's r : -0.425, P <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The pandemic lockdowns had a major impact on the oncological surgical caseload in Germany in 2020. The elderly were most affected by the reduction. There was a clear correlation between SARS-CoV-2 incidences regionally and the reduction of surgical resection rates. In future pandemic circumstances, oncological surgery has to be prioritized with an extra focus on the most vulnerable patients.

Volume-outcome relationship in adrenal surgery from 2009-2017 in Germany-a retrospective study.

OBJECTIVE: Adrenal resections are rare procedures of a heterogeneous nature. While recent European guidelines advocate a minimum annual caseload for adrenalectomies (6 per surgeon), evidence for a volume-outcome relationship for this surgery remains limited. DESIGN: A retrospective analysis of all adrenal resections in Germany between 2009 and 2017 using hospital billing data was performed. Hospitals were grouped into three tertiles of approximately equal patient volume. METHODS: Descriptive, univariate, and multivariate analyses were applied to identify a possible volume-outcome relationship (complications, complication management, and mortality). RESULTS: Around 17 040 primary adrenal resections were included. Benign adrenal tumors (n = 8,213, 48.2%) and adrenal metastases of extra-adrenal malignancies (n = 3582, 21.0%) were the most common diagnoses. Six hundred and thirty-two low-volume hospitals performed an equal number of resections as 23 high-volume hospitals (median surgeries/hospital/year 3 versus 31, P < .001). Complications were less frequent in high-volume hospitals (23.1% in low-volume hospitals versus 17.3% in high-volume hospitals, P < .001). The most common complication was bleeding in 2027 cases (11.9%) with a mortality of 4.6% (94 patients). Overall in-house mortality was 0.7% (n = 126). Age, malignancy, an accompanying resection, complications, and open surgery were associated with in-house mortality. In univariate analysis, surgery in high-volume hospitals was associated with lower mortality (OR: 0.47, P < .001). In a multivariate model, the tendency remained equal (OR: 0.59, P = .104). Regarding failure to rescue (death in case of complications), there was a trend toward lower mortality in high-volume hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: The annual caseload of adrenal resections varies considerably among German hospitals. Our findings suggest that surgery in high-volume centers is advantageous for patient outcomes although fatal complications are rare.

[Robot-assisted Thoracic Surgery: Learning Curve and Cost Analysis in a German High-Volume Centre]. / Roboterassistierte Thoraxchirurgie: Ökonomie und Lernkurve an einem High-Volume-Zentrum.

Robot-assisted thoracic surgery (RATS) is a rapidly evolving surgical technique in Europe. The aim of the study was to analyse the learning curve and safety during the establishment of a RATS-program at a high-volume thoracic surgery centre and to quantify the costs of the surgical procedure in Germany. Within a period of 33 months, 255 patients were prospectively enrolled in the study and all perioperative process times and complications were recorded. Mediastinal procedures were performed in 46%, anatomical lung resections in 38%, wedge resections in 7% and diaphragm plications in 6% of patients. The mean operating time was 130 min and the total length of stay was 7 days. The conversion rate was 3.2% and 30-day mortality 1.2%. Mean costs for surgical consumables per intervention amounted to 2,039 €; the average reimbursement was 9,568 €. In summary, RATS can be safely established, performed and trained with low complication rates and acceptable costs for consumables.

Multimodal therapy of epithelioid pleural mesothelioma: improved survival by changing the surgical treatment approach.

Background: The exact role and type of surgery for malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) remains controversial. This study aimed at analyzing a 20-year single center perioperative experience in MPM surgery at our high-volume thoracic surgery center and comparing the overall survival after trimodal extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP) and extended pleurectomy and decortication combined with hyperthermic intrathoracic chemoperfusion (EPD/HITOC) and adjuvant chemotherapy with that after chemotherapy (CTx) alone. Methods: Patients with epithelioid MPM treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, EPP and adjuvant radiotherapy within a trimodal concept or EPD/HITOC in combination with adjuvant chemotherapy between 2001 and 2018 were included in this retrospective analysis. Surgical cohorts were compared to patients treated with standard chemotherapy. Results: Overall, 182 patients (69 EPP, 57 EPD/HITOC, 56 CTx) were analyzed. Due to occupational exposure to asbestos for most of the patients, 154 patients (84.6%) were male. The patients in the surgical cohorts were significantly younger than those in the CTx cohort. There was no significant difference between the proportion of patient age and side. The median overall survival of the EPD/HITOC cohort with 38.1 months was significantly longer than that of the EPP and CTx cohorts (24.0 and 15.8 months). Better survival was significantly associated with an ECOG 0 performance status, age below 70 years, and negative lymph node status. In the multivariate analysis, EPD/HITOC was significantly associated with improved overall survival. Perioperative morbidity was lower in the EPD/HITOC group than in the EPP cohort. Conclusions: EPD/HITOC is feasible and safe for localized epithelioid pleural mesothelioma. Changing the surgical approach to a less radical lung-sparing technique may improve overall survival compared to trimodal EPP.

Trends in age- and sex-specific lung cancer mortality in Europe and Northern America: Analysis of vital registration data from the WHO Mortality Database between 2000 and 2017.

BACKGROUND: In the context of new targeted therapies and immunotherapy as well as screening modalities for lung cancer patients, detailed mortality trends in Europe and Northern America are unknown. METHODS: Time-trend analysis using vital registration data of Northern America and Europe from the WHO Mortality Database (years 2000/2017). To assess improvements in lung cancer mortality, we performed a population-averaged Poisson autoregressive analysis. The average annual percent change (AAPC) was used as a summary measure of overall and country-specific trends in mortality. Second, we studied time trends of lung cancer incidence and smoking prevalence rates. FINDINGS: In the total population of 872·5 million people between 2015 and 2017, the average annual age-standardised mortality from lung cancer was 54·6 deaths per 100 000, with substantial differences across countries. Lung cancer was reported as the primary cause of death in 5·4 cases per 100 deaths. The age-standardised mortality rate decreased constantly (AAPC -1·5%) between 2000 and 2017. While mortality in men dropped annually by an average of -2·3%, mortality in women decreased by an average of -0·3%. This slight decline was driven exclusively by the USA. In contrast, 21 out of 31 countries registered a significant increase in female lung cancer mortality between 2000 and 2017, with Spain (AAPC 4·1%) and France (AAPC 3·6%) leading the list. INTERPRETATION: Despite overall decreases in lung cancer mortality trends, female mortality remained unchanged or increased significantly in all countries except the USA. National mortality outcomes reflect variabilities in tobacco control, screening, therapeutic advances, and access to health care.

Disproportionately high failure to rescue rates after resection for colorectal cancer in the geriatric patient population - A nationwide study.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer incidence increases with patient age. The aim of this study was to assess, at the nationwide level, in-hospital mortality, and failure to rescue in geriatric patients (≥ 80 years old) with colorectal cancer arising from postoperative complications. METHODS: All patients receiving surgery for colorectal cancer in Germany between 2012 and 2018 were identified in a nationwide database. Association between age and in-hospital mortality following surgery and failure to rescue, defined as death after complication, were determined in univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: Three lakh twenty-eight thousands two hundred and ninety patients with colorectal cancer were included of whom 77,287 were 80 years or older. With increasing age, a significant relative increase in right hemicolectomy was observed. In general, these patients had more comorbid conditions and higher frailty. In-hospital mortality following colorectal cancer surgery was 4.9% but geriatric patients displayed a significantly higher postoperative in-hospital mortality of 10.6%. The overall postoperative complication rate as well as failure to rescue increased with age. In contrast, surgical site infection (SSI) and anastomotic leakage (AL) did not increase in geriatric patients, whereas the associated mortality increased disproportionately (13.3% for SSI and 29.9% mortality for patients with AI, both p < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis adjusting for confounders showed that geriatric patients had almost five-times higher odds for death after surgery than the baseline age group below 60 (OR 4.86; 95%CI [4.45-5.53], p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Geriatric patients have higher mortality after colorectal cancer surgery. This may be partly due to higher frailty and disproportionately higher rates of failure to rescue arising from postoperative complications.

Population-Based Analysis of Sex-Dependent Risk Factors for Mortality in Thoracic Surgery for Lung Cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Sex is an important predictor for lung cancer survival and a favorable prognostic indicator for women compared to men. Specific surgery-related sex differences of patients with lung cancer remain unclear. The aim of this study is to analyze sex-specific differences after lung cancer resections to identify factors for an unfavorable prognosis. METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of a German nationwide discharge register of every adult inpatient undergoing pulmonary resection for lung cancer from 2014 until 2017. DRG data and OPS procedures were analyzed with the help of the Federal Statistical Office using remote controlled data. A multivariable regression model was established in a stepwise process to evaluate the effect of sex on inpatient mortality. RESULTS: A total of 38,806 patients underwent surgical resection for lung cancer between January 2014 and December 2017 in Germany. Women were significantly younger at admission than men (mean 64.7 years [SD 10.1] vs. 66.6 years [SD 9.5]; p < 0.0001). They had fewer unreferred admissions (risk ratio 0.83 [0.77, 0.90], p < 0.0001) and were significantly less likely to have recorded comorbidities. Raw in-hospital mortality was 1.8% for women and 4.1% for men. In the multivariable analysis of in-hospital mortality, the likelihood of death for women compared to men was 21% reduced (OR 0.79 [CI: 0.66, 0.93, p = 0.005]). The risk of postoperative complications such as ventilation >48 h, ARDS, tracheotomy, or pneumonia was significantly lower for women. CONCLUSIONS: Women undergoing lung cancer surgery were younger and had less comorbidities than men in Germany. Female sex was associated with lower mortality and less postoperative complications.

Risk-Adjusted Mortality Rates as a Quality Proxy Outperform Volume in Surgical Oncology-A New Perspective on Hospital Centralization Using National Population-Based Data.

PURPOSE: Despite a long-known association between annual hospital volume and outcome, little progress has been made in shifting high-risk surgery to safer hospitals. This study investigates whether the risk-standardized mortality rate (RSMR) could serve as a stronger proxy for surgical quality than volume. METHODS: We included all patients who underwent complex oncologic surgeries in Germany between 2010 and 2018 for any of five major cancer types, splitting the data into training (2010-2015) and validation sets (2016-2018). For each surgical group, we calculated annual volume and RSMR quintiles in the training set and applied these thresholds to the validation set. We studied the overlap between the two systems, modeled a market exit of low-performing hospitals, and compared effectiveness and efficiency of volume- and RSMR-based rankings. We compared travel distance or time that would be required to reallocate patients to the nearest hospital with low-mortality ranking for the specific procedure. RESULTS: Between 2016 and 2018, 158,079 patients were treated in 974 hospitals. At least 50% of high-volume hospitals were not ranked in the low-mortality group according to RSMR grouping. In an RSMR centralization model, an average of 32 patients undergoing complex oncologic surgery would need to relocate to a low-mortality hospital to save one life, whereas 47 would need to relocate to a high-volume hospital. Mean difference in travel times between the nearest hospital to the hospital that performed surgery ranged from 10 minutes for colorectal cancer to 24 minutes for pancreatic cancer. Centralization on the basis of RSMR compared with volume would ensure lower median travel times for all cancer types, and these times would be lower than those observed. CONCLUSION: RSMR is a promising proxy for measuring surgical quality. It outperforms volume in effectiveness, efficiency, and hospital availability for patients.

Mortality, complications and failure to rescue after surgery for esophageal, gastric, pancreatic and liver cancer patients based on minimum caseloads set by the German Cancer Society.

BACKGROUND: The German Cancer Society (DKG) board certifies hospitals in treating esophageal, gastric, liver and pancreatic cancer among others. There has been no systematic verification of the number of major surgical resections set by DKG certification with regards to in-house mortality and failure to rescue (FtR). METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of anonymized nationwide hospital billing data (DRG data, 2009-2017). Inclusion criteria were based on the annual surgical minimum caseload (SMC) in accordance with DKG certification. RESULTS: 171,429 datasets were identified, including 31,140 esophageal, 54,155 gastric, 57,343 pancreatic and 28,791 liver resections. In-house mortality ranged from 6.2% for gastric resections to 8.1% for pancreatic resections. Differences in in-house mortality between hospitals which fulfilled SMC on average and those which did not fulfill SMC on average were 40.8% (5.3% vs 8.2%) for esophageal, 32.3% (4.8% vs 6.8%) for gastric and 45.7% (6.1% vs 9.8%) for pancreatic resections, while it was 8.2% higher in SMC-hospitals (7.6% vs 7.0%) for liver resections. Complication occurrence rates for esophageal, gastric and pancreatic resections were similar in SMC- and non-SMC-hospitals while FtR in hospitals fulfilling SMC was significantly lower. Data for liver resections demonstrated the same trends only in a sub-analysis of complex procedures. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates an association between caseload threshold defined by DKG and lower mortality in esophageal, gastric, pancreatic and complex liver surgery. In these resections, FtR was reduced if SMC was fulfilled.

Validation of the T Descriptor (TNM-8) in T3N0 Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Patients; a Bicentric Cohort Analysis with Arguments for Redefinition.

The current pT3N0 category represents a heterogeneous subgroup involving tumor size, separate tumor nodes in one lobe, and locoregional growth pattern. We aim to validate outcomes according to the eighth edition of the TNM staging classification. A total of 281 patients who had undergone curative lung cancer surgery staged with TNM-7 in two German centers were retrospectively analyzed. The subtypes tumor size >7 cm and multiple nodules were grouped as T3a, and the subtypes parietal pleura invasion and mixed were grouped as T3b. We stratified survival by subtype and investigated the relative benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy according to subtype. The 5-year overall survival (OS) rates differed between the different subtypes tumor diameter >7 cm (71.5%), multiple nodules in one lobe (71.0%) (grouped as T3a), parietal pleura invasion (59.%), and mixed subtype (5-year OS 50.3%) (grouped as T3b), respectively. The cohort as a whole did not gain significant OS benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. In contrast, adjuvant chemotherapy significantly improved OS in the T3b subgroup (logrank p = 0.03). This multicenter cohort analysis of pT3N0 patients identifies a new prognostic mixed subtype. Tumors >7 cm should not be moved to pT4. Patients with T3b tumors have significantly worse survival than patients with T3a tumors.

Systematic review and meta-analysis on volume-outcome relationship of abdominal surgical procedures in Germany.

BACKGROUND: In the past, for a number of abdominal surgical interventions a correlation between treatment volume of a hospital and the patient's outcome was shown in national and international studies. METHODS: Based on a systematic literature search we analyzed the absolute and risk-adjusted in-house lethality as well as the rate of complications and the failure to rescue after abdominal surgery in Germany. The hospitals were grouped in quintiles according to the volume of treatment. RESULTS: 11 studies including more than 2 million patients were identified and surgeries for the treatment of 9 disease conditions were studied. The meta-analysis shows a significantly lower absolute and risk-adjusted in-house mortality for surgery in hospitals with high treatment volumes compared to low volume hospitals. In the context of subgroup analysis, this effect is demonstrated especially for complex surgical procedures. The failure to rescue in patients suffering from sepsis is significantly lower in high volume centers compared to low volume centers. CONCLUSION: This systematic review and meta-analysis shows on more than 2 million patients that there is a volume-outcome relationship for the surgical treatment of abdominal diseases in Germany across various organ systems, which is particularly true for complex interventions.

Mortality and complication management after surgery for colorectal cancer depending on the DKG minimum amounts for hospital volume.

BACKGROUND: The German Cancer Society ("Deutsche Krebsgesellschaft"; DKG) certifies on a volunteer base colorectal cancer centers based on, among other things, minimum operative amounts (at least 30 oncological colon cancer resections and 20 oncological rectal cancer resections per year). In this work, nationwide hospital mortality and death after documented complications ('Failure to Rescue' = FtR) were evaluated depending on the fulfillment of the minimum amounts. METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of the nationwide hospital billing data (DRG data, 2012-2017). Categorization is based on the DKG minimum quantities (fully, partially or not fulfilled). RESULTS: Of 287,227 patients analyzed, 56.5% were operated in centers that met the DKG minimum amounts. The overall hospital mortality rate was 5.0%. In centers which met the minimum quantities, it was significantly lower (4.3%) than in hospitals which partially (5.7%) or not (6.2%) met the minimum quantities. The risk-adjusted hospital mortality rate for patients in hospitals who meet the minimum amount was 20% lower (OR 0.80; 95% CI [0.74-0.87], p < 0.001). For complications, both surgical and non-surgical, there was an unadjusted and adjusted lower FtR in hospitals that met the minimum amounts (e.g. anastomotic leak: 11.2% vs. 15.6%, p < 0.001; pulmonary artery embolism 21.3% vs. 28.2%, p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: There is a 1/3 lower mortality and FtR rate after surgery for a colon or rectal cancer in centers fulfilling the DKG minimum amounts. The presented data implicate that there is an urgent need for a nationwide centralization program.