Morbidity and mortality after liver resection: Results of the Patient Safety in Surgery Study

Background: Liver resection is performed with increasing frequency. Nearly all of the published information on operative mortality and morbidity rates associated with liver resection is derived from studies that rely on retrospective data collection from single centers. The goal of this study is to use audited multiinstitutional data from the private sector of the Patient Safety in Surgery Study to characterize complications after liver resection and to identify variables that are associated with 30-day morbidity and mortality. Study Design: Prospectively collected data on liver resection patients from 14 hospitals were collected using National Surgical Quality Improvement Program's methodology. Rates of occurrence of 21 defined postoperative complications were measured. Bivariate analyses and stepwise logistic regression were used to identify factors associated with 30-day morbidity and mortality. Results: At least one complication occurred in 22.6% of patients within 30 days. Stepwise logistic regression identified several preoperative factors associated with morbidity, including serum albumin, SGOT >40, previous cardiac operation, operative work relative value unit, and history of severe COPD. Mortality within 30 days was observed in 2.6% of patients. Factors associated with mortality were found to be male gender, American Society of Anesthesiologists class 3 or higher, presence of ascites, dyspnea, and severe COPD. Only 0.7% of patients without any complications died, compared with 9.0% of patients with at least 1 complication (p<0.0001). Conclusions: Prospective, standardized, audited, multiinstitutional data were analyzed to identify several preoperative and intraoperative factors associated with morbidity and mortality after liver resection. These factors should be considered during patient selection and perioperative management.