Performing concurrent operations in academic vascular neurosurgery does not affect patient outcomes

Area of Science:

• Neurosurgery
• Surgical Outcomes
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Concurrent surgeries, or "running two rooms," are increasingly scrutinized.
• Evaluating operative time and patient outcomes is crucial for these practices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare operative times and patient outcomes between concurrent and nonconcurrent vascular neurosurgical procedures.
• To assess the safety and efficacy of overlapping surgical scheduling in neurosurgery.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of 1219 vascular neurosurgical procedures performed by a single surgeon.
• Data analysis included patient demographics, procedure details, and postoperative outcomes.
• Mixed-effects models were used to adjust for confounding variables.

Main Results:

• Concurrent cases were more likely to be routine/elective and involved less sick patients.
• While concurrent surgeries had longer procedural times, they showed lower 30-day mortality and unplanned returns to the OR.
• After adjustment, key patient outcomes like stroke, sepsis, and readmission rates were equivalent between groups.

Conclusions:

• Concurrent vascular neurosurgical procedures are associated with longer operative durations but equivalent patient outcomes.
• The study suggests that concurrent scheduling can be safely applied to specific patient and procedure types.
• Further research may explore optimizing resource allocation with concurrent surgical models.