Postoperative complications in women with ovarian cancer stratified by cytoreductive surgery outcome

OBJECTIVE

To compare 30-day postoperative complications for patients with advanced ovarian cancer who underwent resection to no gross residual disease versus optimal and suboptimal cytoreduction.

METHODS

A retrospective cohort study of women drawn from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program who underwent cytoreductive surgery for advanced ovarian cancer between 2014 and 2019 was performed. Exposure of interest was extent of surgical resection defined as no gross residual disease; residual disease <1 cm (optimal); and residual disease >1 cm (suboptimal). Primary outcome was postoperative complication. Associations were examined with bivariable tests and multivariable logistic regression.

RESULTS

A total of 2248 women underwent cytoreductive surgery; 68.4% (n = 1538) underwent resection to no gross residual disease, 22.4% (n = 504) had an optimal, and 9.2% (n = 206) had a suboptimal cytoreduction. Optimal cytoreduction patients had the highest rates of any postoperative complication (35.5%, p < 0.001). They also had the longest operative times and procedures that were most surgically complex (203 min, 43.6 relative value units, both p < 0.05). However, patients who underwent optimal cytoreduction did not have increased odds of major complications (adjusted odds ratio: 1.20, 95% confidence interval: 0.91-1.58).

CONCLUSION

Patients who underwent optimal cytoreduction had more postoperative complications, required the most operating room time, and represented more complex surgeries compared with suboptimal cytoreduction or resection to no gross residual disease.

Evaluation of emergency department treat-and-release encounters after major gastrointestinal surgery

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Emergency department (ED) utilization after gastrointestinal cancer operations is poorly characterized. Our study objectives were to determine the incidence of, reasons for, and predictors of ED treat-and-release encounters after gastrointestinal cancer operations.

METHODS

Patients who underwent elective esophageal, hepatobiliary, gastric, pancreatic, small intestinal, or colorectal operations for cancer were identified in the 2015-2017 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Inpatient and State Emergency Department Databases for New York, Maryland, and Florida. The primary outcomes were the incidence of ED treat-and-release encounters and readmissions within 30 days of discharge.

RESULTS

Among 51 527 patients at 406 hospitals, 4047 (7.9%) had an ED treat-and-release encounter, and 5573 (10.8%) had an ED encounter with readmission. In total, 40.7% of ED encounters were treat-and-release encounters. ED treat-and-release encounters were most frequently for pain (12.0%), device/ostomy complaints (11.7%), or wound complaints (11.4%). ED treat-and-release encounters predictors included non-Hispanic Black race/ethnicity (odds ratio [OR] 1.24, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.12-1.37) and Medicare (OR 1.27, 95% CI 1.16-1.40) or Medicaid (OR 1.82, 95% CI 1.62-2.40) coverage.

CONCLUSIONS

ED treat-and-release encounters are common after major gastrointestinal operations, making up nearly half of postdischarge ED encounters. The reasons for ED treat-and-release encounters differ from those for ED encounters with readmissions.