Overlap surgery is considered safe for most patients, but caution is needed for some high-risk cases

Overlapping surgeries are not significantly correlated with differences in hospital mortality rates or postoperative complications; However, according to a recently published study, it was significantly associated with longer surgery in patients undergoing routine procedures.

For the study, the overlap of surgical procedures was defined as at least two operations performed by the same surgeon, during which at least one hour of a case, or the entire case for interventions of a shorter duration at one o'clock, occurred during another surgical procedure.

"The message of the study is that, overall, the superimposed surgeries seem to be safe for most patients, in that complications and mortality are not higher in the patients. patients who undergo superimposed surgeries, "co-authored the study. Eric Sun, MD, PhD, told Healio.com/Orthopedics. "That being said, our study suggests that in some patients – namely those who undergo [coronary artery bypass graft] PACs and individuals at high risk of complications predicted after surgery by age, comorbidities or type of surgery – there may be an increased risk of complications and mortality, although this increased risk be small. "

The researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study of 66,430 total knee and hip replacements, spine surgeries, coronary artery bypass surgeries, and craniotomies in patients aged 18 to 90 years. The investigators followed the patients to their exit. Internal mortality, complications and length of surgery were among the main findings.

The results showed that out of 66,430 operations, 8,224 were considered overlapping surgeries. After adjusting the co-founders, the researchers found that the overlap in surgical procedures was not correlated with a significant difference in internal mortality or complication risks. There was an association between overlap surgery and longer surgery. The investigators noted a significant correlation between overlapping surgery and increased mortality and complications in patients with a high risk of preoperative predictive mortality and a risk of complications compared to low-risk patients. – by Monica Jaramillo

Disclosures: Sun reports that he is receiving grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Please see the full study for a list of all relevant financial statements from other authors.