According to a study that will be presented during the 119th Congress of the French Surgery Association (AFC), the chances of survival of patients operated on for pancreatic cancer depend on the hospital where they are operated. “We die almost twice as much from pancreatic cancer in hospitals with low surgical volume in France”, reveals this study conducted by the CRHU of Lille.
71% increased risk of mortality
This study was carried out using data from 12,333 patients undergoing pancreatic resection from 2012 to 2015 in France. It shows that the management of an operation on the pancreas by a center where less than 20 operations are performed per year would increase the risk of 90-day mortality by 71%.
“Even in low-risk patients, the mortality was significantly higher in centers carrying out less than 20 operations per year: 6.2%, compared to medium and high volume centers carrying out more than 50 operations “ emphasize the researchers.
The number of operations is not the only criterion
The volume of activities in itself is probably not sufficient to guarantee absolute quality but it conditions other quality criteria such as the training of nursing staff or the technical equipment of the hospital establishment.
“It is necessary to have greater visibility and a referencing on the specialization of health establishments” explains Patrick Pessaux of the IHU in Strasbourg and secretary general of the AFC. “Without falling into simplistic classifications of health establishments, more transparency is necessary, based on medical factual results and on the quality of the management of the care path”.
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