Better postoperative care would dramatically improve cancer survival

Patients in low- and lower-middle-income countries were up to six times more likely to die from complications within 30 days of surgery compared to those in high-income countries, according to the report.

Hospitals in these countries were found to be less likely to have post-surgical facilities or care plans in place.

Investing in appropriate recovery and ward space, trained staff, early warning systems and intensive care facilities would lead to improved surgical care and a reduction in the number of deaths, experts said.

In the largest study of its kind, researchers at the Universities of Edinburgh and Birmingham looked at data from almost 16,000 patients in 428 hospitals in 82 countries who had surgery for breast, bowel and cancer. stomach between April 2018 and January 2019.

Surgery is an important part of cancer treatment, with 80% of cancer patients having surgery.

Patients with stomach cancer who had surgery were three times more likely to die in low- and lower-middle-income countries than those in high-income countries.

Bowel cancer patients in low- and lower-middle-income countries were four times more likely to die than those in high-income countries.

There was no difference in death between countries for patients who had breast cancer surgery.

Complications after surgery are common, but hospitals that provide high-level postoperative care performed the best even when treating advanced cancers, according to the study.

Low- and lower-middle-income countries that had postoperative care facilities were associated with seven to ten fewer deaths per 100 complications.

The research, published in The Lancet, was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Global Health Unit in Global Surgery.

The team only looked at the first results after surgery, but in the future they plan to study long-term results and other cancers.

Professor Ewen Harrison, professor of surgery and data science at the University of Edinburgh, said: “Rich countries and poor countries alike have talented surgeons and anesthesiologists, but low-resource countries do not have the infrastructure needed to deal with complications that arise during surgery. We now know this can have a major impact on whether or not a patient survives. ”

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