Preoperative risk assessment in children undergoing major urologic surgery

Preoperative risk assessment is standard in adult surgery, but often these risk assessments cannot be applied to children. Previous studies emphasize the differences between pediatric and adult populations and variability by surgical procedure types.

We investigated preoperative risk factors for several outcomes in children undergoing major urologic surgery using the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) Pediatric.

A cohort of 2-18-year-old children who underwent major urologic surgery was identified by Current Procedure Terminology (CPT) codes in the 2012-2013 NSQIP-Pediatric. The NSQIP-Pediatric prospectively collects standardized and validated data from 61 sites on preoperative, operative, and 30-day postoperative variables. Urologic surgeries involving dissection of the peritoneal or extraperitoneal space were included. Patients undergoing pure genitourinary surgery were analyzed separately from those with bowel involvement to improve homogeneity. Postoperative outcomes including hospital length of stay and 30-day infective complications, non-infective complications, unplanned reoperation and readmissions were evaluated by fitting multivariable logistic regression models.

A total of 2601 patients were identified, of whom 399 (15.3%) underwent bowel-involved surgery and 2202 (84.7%) underwent pure genitourinary surgery. Patients in the bowel-involved group were significantly older with more comorbidity. Postoperative complications, unplanned return to operating room, hospital length of stay and readmission rates were all significantly worse in the bowel-involved group. In the pure genitourinary group, older age and white race improved some outcomes, while American Society of Anesthesia (ASA) class ≥ 3, total operation time, obesity, pulmonary risk factors, preoperative renal disease, developmental delay, structural central nervous system abnormality, and supplemental nutrition independently predicted at least one negative outcome (Table).

Consistent with previous research on reconstructive surgery, we identified a significant difference in patient age, surgery details, comorbidity, and increased complications for patients undergoing urologic surgery with bowel involvement compared with pure genitourinary surgery. Focusing solely on pure genitourinary surgery, we identified predictors of outcomes. Identification of these factors in pediatric urology is novel and only recently possible with the availability of the NSQIP-Pediatric.

Using the NSQIP-Pediatric, we confirmed differences in complication rates for major urologic surgeries, with and without bowel involvement in a national sample. Preoperative risk characteristics were also identified for patients undergoing pure genitourinary surgery. Further investigation into these relationships is necessary to better elucidate their clinical significance with the goal of improving surgical planning, postoperative care, and family counseling.