Organisation and Early Outcomes of Major Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer Surgery in Denmark 1996–2004

Abstract

Background: To assess the relationship between hospital volume and early postoperative outcome the incidence and early outcome of all esophagectomies, pancreaticoduodenectomies and gastric resections in Denmark from 1996 to 2004 was described. Methods: The National Patient Registry and discharge information from all hospital departments were analysed for all the operations due to a malignant diagnosis. All information was examined for postoperative length of stay and hospital mortality. Results: During the study period 26 departments performed at least one esophageal resection, 13 departments performed at least one Whipple procedure and 37 departments performed at least one gastric resection. Four departments performed more than 20 esophageal resections per year, whereas one department performed more than 20 Whipple procedures and one more than 20 gastric resections per year. The overall mean length of stay was 21.6 days, 24 days and 18 days for esophageal, pancreatic and gastric resections, respectively, with no difference between high and low volume departments. The hospital mortality was 8.6%, 8.9% and 8.2%, respectively. Conclusion: The overall high mortality and long postoperative stay in patients undergoing upper gastrointestinal cancer surgery in Denmark calls for improvement by regionalisation into 3–4 departments and monitoring of results.