Emergency intraoperative vascular surgery consultations at a tertiary academic center.

OBJECTIVE: Vascular surgeons are frequently called on to provide emergency assistance to surgical colleagues. Whereas previous studies have included elective preoperative vascular consultations, we sought to characterize the breadth of assistance provided during unplanned intraoperative consultations at a single tertiary academic center. METHODS: We queried our institutional billing department during a 15-year period and reviewed the records (January 1, 2002-December 31, 2016) and identified unanticipated unplanned vascular surgery intraoperative consultations from all surgical services. Patients' demographics and comorbidities were recorded along with the consulting services, type of index operation, reasons for vascular consultation, regions of anatomic interventions, type of vascular interventions performed, and outcomes achieved. RESULTS: There were 419 emergency intraoperative consultations identified. Patients were 51% male, with an average age of 57 years and body mass index of 28.3 kg/m2. The most frequently consulting subspecialties included surgical oncology (n = 139 [33.2%]), cardiac surgery (n = 82 [19.6%]), and orthopedics (n = 44 [10.5%]). Index cases were elective/nonurgent (n = 324 [77.3%]), urgent (n = 27 [6.4%]), and emergent (n = 68 [16.2%]), with a majority involving tumor resection (n = 240 [57.3%]). The primary reasons for vascular consultation were revascularization (n = 213 [50.8%]), control of bleeding (n = 132 [31.5%]), assistance with dissection or exposure (n = 46 [11%]), embolic protection (n = 24 [5.7%]), and other (n = 4 [1.1%]). The primary blood vessel and anatomic field of intervention were categorized. Most cases (n = 264 [63%]) included preservation of blood flow, including primary arterial repair (n = 181 [43.2%]), patch angioplasty (n = 83 [19.8%]), bypass (n = 63 [15%]), and thrombectomy (n = 38 [9.1%]). Postoperative mean length of stay was 15 days, with 30-day and 1-year mortality of 7.2% and 26.5%. CONCLUSIONS: Vascular surgeons are called on to provide unplanned open surgical consultations for a wide variety of specialties over wide-ranging anatomic regions, employing a variety of skills and techniques. This study testifies to the essential services supplied to hospitals and our surgical colleagues along with the broad skills and training necessary for modern vascular surgeons.

Parathyroid surgery can be safely performed in a community hospital by experienced parathyroid surgeons: A retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: There is ongoing debate about the effectiveness and safety of performing parathyroid surgery in low-volume community hospitals. STUDY DESIGN/METHODS: Cases performed at community hospital by a group of 4 parathyroid surgeons (group 1) were reviewed. Cure and complication rates were analyzed in light of outcomes of an expert endocrine surgeon from high-volume academic center (group 2) as point of reference. RESULTS: During the respective time periods, 204 patients met inclusion criteria in group1 and 218 patients in group 2. Patient characteristics, biochemical tests, and performed localizing studies (ultrasound and sestamibi scan) were comparable between the two groups. Pathological findings, including adenoma, double adenoma, hyperplasia, and cancer were comparable. Each had comparable cure rates (97% and 99%) (p < 0.18) and complication rates (1% and 1%) (p < 0.93) for group 1 and 2, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that experienced parathyroid surgeons will achieve comparable excellent outcomes of parathyroid surgery at both community and academic-based centers. As the field of endocrine surgery evolves and matures, producing young fellowship-trained endocrine surgeons, there will be growing need for expanding the niche of endocrine surgery into community-based hospital settings, which eventually will contribute to expanding and equalizing access to high-quality surgical care across urban and rural areas.