Experts vs. machine - comparison of machine learning to expert-informed prediction of outcome after major liver surgery.

Background: Machine learning (ML) has been successfully implemented for classification tasks (e.g., cancer diagnosis).

Surgical outcome improvement by shared decision-making: value of a preoperative multidisciplinary target clinic for the elderly in colorectal surgery.

Purpose: Frailty and comorbidities increase the risk of postoperative complications and raise treatment costs. Perioperative optimisation is shown to improve surgical outcomes for the elderly. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of introducing a multidisciplinary preoperative clinic for older patients (Colchester Older Persons' Evaluation for Surgery (COPES) clinic) undergoing major colorectal surgery.

Delivering Safe Surgical Care While Simultaneously Caring for Patients With COVID-19; Assessment of Patient Selection, Volume and Outcomes in a Tertiary Care Hospital.

Compare patient selection and postoperative outcomes after surgical treatment for gastrointestinal disorders before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We assessed gastrointestinal surgeries conducted at a tertiary center from 2017-2021 for differences in patient populations and procedures before (up to February 2020) and during the pandemic (March 2020 to December 2021). We analyzed mortality, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) length of stay, admission to ICU and postoperative complications for complex procedures using descriptive statistics and regression models.

Benchmarks in colorectal surgery: multinational study to define quality thresholds in high and low anterior resection.

Background: Benchmark comparisons in surgery allow identification of gaps in the quality of care provided. The aim of this study was to determine quality thresholds for high (HAR) and low (LAR) anterior resections in colorectal cancer surgery by applying the concept of benchmarking.

Methods: This 5-year multinational retrospective study included patients who underwent anterior resection for cancer in 19 high-volume centres on five continents.

Can Early Postoperative Complications Predict High Morbidity and Decrease Failure to Rescue Following Major Abdominal Surgery?

Objective: To assess whether specific patterns of early postoperative complications may predict overall severe morbidity after major surgery, warranting early escalation of care and prevention of failure to rescue.

Summary Of Background Data: It is unclear whether early postoperative complications predict a poor outcome. Detailed knowledge of the chronology and type of early complications after major surgery may alert clinicians when to expect higher risk for subsequent major negative events.

How to Establish Benchmarks for Surgical Outcomes?: A Checklist Based on an International Expert Delphi Consensus.

Objective: To define a standardized methodology for establishing benchmarks for relevant outcomes in surgery.

Summary Background Data: Benchmarking is an established tool to improve quality in industry and economics, and is emerging in assessing outcome values in surgery. Despite a recent 10-step approach to identify such benchmark values, a standardized and more widely agreed-on approach is still lacking.

Procedural Surgical RCTs in Daily Practice: Do Surgeons Adopt Or Is It Just a Waste of Time?

Objective: To assess the adoption of recommendation from randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and investigate factors favoring or preventing adoption.

Background: RCT are considered to be the cornerstone of evidence-based medicine by representing the highest level of evidence. As such, we expect RCT's recommendations to be followed rigorously in daily surgical practice.

Defining Global Benchmarks in Bariatric Surgery: A Retrospective Multicenter Analysis of Minimally Invasive Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass and Sleeve Gastrectomy.

Objective: To define "best possible" outcomes for bariatric surgery (BS)(Roux-en-Y gastric bypass [RYGB] and sleeve gastrectomy [SG]).

Background: Reference values for optimal surgical outcomes in well-defined low-risk bariatric patients have not been established so far. Consequently, outcome comparison across centers and over time is impeded by heterogeneity in case-mix.

Benchmark analyses in minimally invasive esophagectomy-impact on surgical quality improvement.

Over the last decades, benchmarking has become an established management tool to improve quality in commercial economics. It is a rather new concept in the healthcare industry, and a confusingly wide range of approaches referring to "benchmarking" have been employed in the field of minimally invasive esophageal cancer surgery. It is our conviction that benchmarking will be an essential element of surgical research in the future.

The Comprehensive Complication Index (CCI®) is a Novel Cost Assessment Tool for Surgical Procedures.

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify a readily available, reproducible, and internationally applicable cost assessment tool for surgical procedures.

Summary Of Background Data: Strong economic pressure exists worldwide to slow down the rising of health care costs. Postoperative morbidity significantly impacts on cost in surgical patients.

Defining Benchmarks in Liver Transplantation: A Multicenter Outcome Analysis Determining Best Achievable Results.

Unlabelled: : This multicentric study of 17 high-volume centers presents 12 benchmark values for liver transplantation. Those values, mostly targeting markers of morbidity, were gathered from 2024 "low risk" cases, and may serve as reference to assess outcome of single or any groups of patients.

Objective: To propose benchmark outcome values in liver transplantation, serving as reference for assessing individual patients or any other patient groups.

Spiradenocarcinoma: A Comprehensive Data Review.

Introduction: Spiradenocarcinomas (SCs) are rare and potentially aggressive skin adnexal tumors. Optimal treatment has not yet been established. Experiences with this carcinoma are mostly presented in case reports and few case series.

The Comprehensive Complication Index (CCI®): Added Value and Clinical Perspectives 3 Years "Down the Line".

Objective: To explore the added value of the comprehensive complication index (CCI) to standard assessment of postoperative morbidity, and to clarify potential controversies for its application.

Background: The CCI was introduced about 3 years ago as a novel metric of postoperative morbidity, integrating in a single formula all complications by severity, ranging from 0 (uneventful course) to 100 (death). It remains unclear, how often the CCI adds to standard reporting of complications and how to apply it in complex postoperative courses.

Prognostic factors for impaired plasma sodium homeostasis after transsphenoidal surgery.

Objective: Surgical manipulation of the pituitary stalk, neurohypophysis or the hypothalamus may disturb control of the plasma sodium level. The factors that might predict the risk of postoperative sodium imbalance are not clear, and were investigated in this study.

Methods: A retrospective survey of 129 surgical records for the occurrence of plasma sodium levels outside the normal range, following transsphenoidal procedures.