Pancreatic surgery: Lower mortality with larger case volumes

According to the findings of a new study, for complex pancreatic surgery a positive correlation can be inferred between the volume of services and the quality of treatment results: In hospitals with larger case volumes, the survival probabilities for patients are higher overall, fewer fatal complications occur and hospital stays are mostly shorter.
For certain surgical procedures, can a correlation be shown between the volume of services provided per hospital and the quality of treatment results? This is the question addressed in eight commissions that the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) awarded to the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) in Germany. An IQWiG rapid report is now available for the seventh intervention to be tested, complex pancreatic surgery.
High-risk procedures usually performed as elective surgery The pancreas produces both digestive secretions and hormones such as insulin, glucagon or somatostatin, which have a regulating effect on carbohydrate metabolism and digestion.
Surgical procedures of the pancreas are considered complex and thus high risk and are usually performed as elective, i.e. planned, surgery. These procedures are largely performed due to complications caused by chronic inflammation or due to malignant neoplasms.
Between 2009 and 2014, about 35,000 complex surgical procedures of the pancreas were performed overall in Germany due to malignant neoplasms. The hospital mortality rates for patients who underwent complex pancreatic surgery in Germany between 2009 and 2013 were around 10 per cent. (ANI)