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Updated: Jul 9, 2026
Murine Ileocolic Bowel Resection with Primary Anastomosis
Published on: October 29, 2014
Using predicted 30 day mortality to plan postoperative colorectal surgery care: a cohort study
M Swart1, J B Carlisle2, J Goddard3
1Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, Torbay Hospital, Torquay, UK michael.swart@nhs.net.
Background:
Preoperative identification of high-risk surgical patients might help to reduce postoperative morbidity and mortality. Using a patient's predicted 30 day mortality to plan postoperative high-dependency unit (HDU) care after elective colorectal surgery might be associated with reduced postoperative morbidity.
Methods:
The 30 day postoperative mortality was predicted for 504 elective colorectal surgical patients in a preoperative clinic. The prediction was used to determine postoperative surgical ward or HDU care. Those with a predicted 30 day mortality of 1-3% mortality, and thus deemed at intermediate risk, had either planned HDU care (n=68) or planned ward care (n=139). The main outcome measures were emergency laparotomy and unplanned critical care admission.
Results:
There were more emergency laparotomies and unplanned critical care admissions in patients with a predicted 30 day mortality of 1-3% who went to an HDU after surgery compared with patients who went to a ward: 0 vs 14 (10%), P=0.0056 and 0 vs 22 (16%), P=0.0002, respectively.
Conclusions:
Planned postoperative critical care was associated with a lower rate of complications after elective colorectal surgery.
