CHICAGO – The odds of emergency surgery were sevenfold higher in dialysis-dependent patients undergoing colorectal surgery than patients with renal insufficiency not on dialysis or those with normal renal function.
Dialysis patients were also far less likely to undergo laparoscopic surgery and to be rescued from death if they experienced a complication.
These are just some of the results of a retrospective study involving 156,645 elective colorectal surgery cases selected as a poster of exceptional merit here at the annual clinical congress of the American College of Surgeons.
Dialysis patients are known to be at high risk for postoperative complications, but few studies have evaluated outcomes after colorectal surgery in these patients or distinguished them from patients with non–dialysis dependent renal insufficiency (NDDRI) or normal renal function (NRF), observed study author Dr. Isibor Arhuidese of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Indeed, when the researchers compared these three groups, perioperative mortality and morbidity after elective colorectal surgery was the worst in dialysis patients.
Absolute perioperative mortality was highest for dialysis patients vs. NDDRI and NRF patients after open (13.4% vs. 4.8% vs. 2%; P less than .001) and laparoscopic (8% vs. 2% vs. 0.6%; P less than .001) surgery.
Three complications were significantly associated with death in dialysis patients: myocardial infarction (adjusted odds ratio, 48.6; P = .027), bleeding (aOR, 14.5; P = .025), and sepsis or septic shock (aOR, 8.7; P = .001).
It is not enough to simply identify dialysis dependence as a predictor of poor outcomes, but one must identify targets for improvement in surgical care, Dr. Arhuidese stressed.
Dr. Arhuidese reported having no relevant conflicts of interest.
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