OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of hospital operation volume on hospital mortality and 5-year survival in patients treated with resection for carcinoma of the oesophagus and gastric cardia. INTRODUCTION: Surgery due to tumours of the oesophagus and gastric cardia is probably associated with the highest postoperative morbidity and mortality of all elective surgical procedures. Concentration to high-volume centres has been suggested to improve the outcome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between 1987 and 1996, all patients with squamous cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus or gastric cardia were identified from the Swedish Cancer Registry and the Swedish Hospital Discharge Registry. The study population was assessed according to patients operated at hospitals with a low (L-V), intermediate (I-V) or high operation volume (H-V), defined as <5 resections/year, 5-15 resections/year and >15 resections/year, respectively. We analyzed hospital mortality and 5-year survival. RESULTS: During the study period, 1429 patients were treated with resection for carcinoma of the oesophagus (n=665) or the gastric cardia (n = 764). A total of 74 hospitals were registered with at least one surgical resection, of which 90% performed <5 resections/year. The distribution of gender and age was comparable in the three groups. Hospital mortality was 10.4, 6.3 and 3.5% in the L-V, I-V and H-V groups, respectively. Overall 5-year survival was 17% (L-V), 19% (I-V) and 22% (H-V). Multivariate analysis showed an improved long-term survival for patients operated at H-V compared to L-V hospitals (p=0.02). CONCLUSION: This study supports an inverse relationship between hospital volume and hospital mortality after surgical tumour resection of the oesophagus or gastric cardia. Overall 5-year survival was significantly higher at high-volume hospitals compared to low-volume centres. We believe that concentrating these patients in high-volume hospitals is necessary to achieve high quality surgical treatment and to facilitate research aiming to improve prognosis.
OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of hospital operation volume on hospital mortality and 5-year survival in patients treated with resection for carcinoma of the oesophagus and gastric cardia. INTRODUCTION: Surgery due to tumours of the oesophagus and gastric cardia is probably associated with the highest postoperative morbidity and mortality of all elective surgical procedures. Concentration to high-volume centres has been suggested to improve the outcome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between 1987 and 1996, all patients with squamous cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus or gastric cardia were identified from the Swedish Cancer Registry and the Swedish Hospital Discharge Registry. The study population was assessed according to patients operated at hospitals with a low (L-V), intermediate (I-V) or high operation volume (H-V), defined as <5 resections/year, 5-15 resections/year and >15 resections/year, respectively. We analyzed hospital mortality and 5-year survival. RESULTS: During the study period, 1429 patients were treated with resection for carcinoma of the oesophagus (n=665) or the gastric cardia (n = 764). A total of 74 hospitals were registered with at least one surgical resection, of which 90% performed <5 resections/year. The distribution of gender and age was comparable in the three groups. Hospital mortality was 10.4, 6.3 and 3.5% in the L-V, I-V and H-V groups, respectively. Overall 5-year survival was 17% (L-V), 19% (I-V) and 22% (H-V). Multivariate analysis showed an improved long-term survival for patients operated at H-V compared to L-V hospitals (p=0.02). CONCLUSION: This study supports an inverse relationship between hospital volume and hospital mortality after surgical tumour resection of the oesophagus or gastric cardia. Overall 5-year survival was significantly higher at high-volume hospitals compared to low-volume centres. We believe that concentrating these patients in high-volume hospitals is necessary to achieve high quality surgical treatment and to facilitate research aiming to improve prognosis.
Authors: Cathy Bennett; Nimish Vakil; Jacques Bergman; Rebecca Harrison; Robert Odze; Michael Vieth; Scott Sanders; Laura Gay; Oliver Pech; Gaius Longcroft-Wheaton; Yvonne Romero; John Inadomi; Jan Tack; Douglas A Corley; Hendrik Manner; Susi Green; David Al Dulaimi; Haythem Ali; Bill Allum; Mark Anderson; Howard Curtis; Gary Falk; M Brian Fennerty; Grant Fullarton; Kausilia Krishnadath; Stephen J Meltzer; David Armstrong; Robert Ganz; Gianpaolo Cengia; James J Going; John Goldblum; Charles Gordon; Heike Grabsch; Chris Haigh; Michio Hongo; David Johnston; Ricky Forbes-Young; Elaine Kay; Philip Kaye; Toni Lerut; Laurence B Lovat; Lars Lundell; Philip Mairs; Tadakuza Shimoda; Stuart Spechler; Stephen Sontag; Peter Malfertheiner; Iain Murray; Manoj Nanji; David Poller; Krish Ragunath; Jaroslaw Regula; Renzo Cestari; Neil Shepherd; Rajvinder Singh; Hubert J Stein; Nicholas J Talley; Jean-Paul Galmiche; Tony C K Tham; Peter Watson; Lisa Yerian; Massimo Rugge; Thomas W Rice; John Hart; Stuart Gittens; David Hewin; Juergen Hochberger; Peter Kahrilas; Sean Preston; Richard Sampliner; Prateek Sharma; Robert Stuart; Kenneth Wang; Irving Waxman; Chris Abley; Duncan Loft; Ian Penman; Nicholas J Shaheen; Amitabh Chak; Gareth Davies; Lorna Dunn; Yngve Falck-Ytter; John Decaestecker; Pradeep Bhandari; Christian Ell; S Michael Griffin; Stephen Attwood; Hugh Barr; John Allen; Mark K Ferguson; Paul Moayyedi; Janusz A Z Jankowski Journal: Gastroenterology Date: 2012-04-24 Impact factor: 22.682
Authors: Deirdre P Cronin-Fenton; Margaret M Mooney; Limin X Clegg; Linda C Harlan Journal: World J Gastroenterol Date: 2008-05-28 Impact factor: 5.742
Authors: Thomas R Palser; David A Cromwell; Richard H Hardwick; Stuart A Riley; Kimberley Greenaway; William Allum; Jan Hp van der Meulen Journal: BMC Health Serv Res Date: 2009-11-12 Impact factor: 2.655