WASHINGTON, DC USA (UroToday.com) - Several studies have shown that high volume surgeons who operate at high volume institutions have better short-term morbidity and mortality outcomes for many complex operations and radical cystectomy is no exception.
These authors performed a literature search to identify all articles examining the effects of procedure volume on clinical outcome of the cystectomy, and found 10 studies of good methodological quality. Meta-analysis was done to calculate the overall effect of higher volume of a surgeon or hospital on the patient outcome. Two studies showed a beneficial effect of surgeon volume on mortality (OR 0.55; OR 0.64). One study showed a positive effect of hospital volume on survival (HR 0.89, p = 0.06)). A meta-analysis of the 7 studies on hospital mortality showed a pooled estimated effect of OR 0.55 (0.44-0.69).
The authors recommend a minimum of 10 radical cystectomies be performed per surgeon to obtain good quality outcomes.
Presented by Catharina Goossens-Laan, et al. at the American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting - May 14 - 19, 2011 - Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC USA
Reported for UroToday by David P. Wood Jr., MD, Professor, Department of Urology, University of Michigan Health System.
View Full AUA 2011 Meeting Coverage
