• Susanna Wl de Geus, Marianna V Papageorge, Alison P Woods, Spencer Wilson, Sing Chau Ng, Andrea Merrill, Michael Cassidy, David McAneny, Jennifer F Tseng, and Teviah E Sachs.
• From the Department of Surgery, Boston Medical Center, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA (de Geus, Papageorge, Woods, Wilson, Chau Ng, Merrill, Cassidy, McAneny, Tseng, Sachs).
• J. Am. Coll. Surg. 2022 Jun 1; 234 (6): 981988981-988.

BackgroundCentralization for complex cancer surgery may not always be feasible owing to socioeconomic disparities, geographic constraints, or patient preference. The present study investigates how the combined volume of complex cancer operations impacts postoperative outcomes at hospitals that are low-volume for a specific high-risk cancer operation.Study DesignPatients who underwent pneumonectomy, esophagectomy, gastrectomy, hepatectomy, pancreatectomy, or proctectomy were identified from the National Cancer Database (2004-2017). For every operation, 3 separate cohorts were created: low-volume hospitals (LVH) for both the individual cancer operation and the total number of those complex operations, mixed-volume hospital (MVH) with low volume for the individual cancer operation but high volume for total number of complex operations, and high-volume hospitals (HVH) for each specific operation.ResultsLVH was significantly (all p ≤ 0.01) predictive for 30-day mortality compared with HVH across all operations: pneumonectomy (9.5% vs 7.9%), esophagectomy (5.6% vs 3.2%), gastrectomy (6.8% vs 3.6%), hepatectomy (5.9% vs 3.2%), pancreatectomy (4.7% vs 2.3%), and proctectomy (2.4% vs 1.3%). Patients who underwent surgery at MVH and HVH demonstrated similar 30-day mortality: esophagectomy (3.2 vs 3.2%; p = 0.993), gastrectomy (3.2% vs 3.6%; p = 0.637), hepatectomy (3.8% vs 3.2%; p = 0.233), pancreatectomy (2.8% vs 2.3%; p = 0.293), and proctectomy (1.2% vs 1.3%; p = 0.843). Patients who underwent pneumonectomy at MVH demonstrated lower 30-day mortality compared with HVH (5.4% vs 7.9%; p = 0.045).ConclusionPatients who underwent complex operations at MVH had similar postoperative outcomes to those at HVH. MVH provide a model for the centralization of complex cancer surgery for patients who do not receive their care at HVH.Copyright © 2022 by the American College of Surgeons. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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