Same-Day Cancellation in Vascular Surgery: 10-Year Review at a Large Tertiary Care Center

Same-day cancellation of vascular surgical procedures is an undesirable occurrence with multifaceted implications into the patient's health care. Numerous factors play a role in same-day cancellations, ranging from medical causes, patient factors, or administrative and scheduling conflicts.

A retrospective review of the medical records database at our large tertiary academic referral center from 2007 to 2017 was performed to identify patients scheduled for vascular surgical procedures who experienced same-day cancellation.

Of the 17,887 scheduled vascular surgical procedures during the study period, 361 (2%) patients experienced same-day cancellations. Seventy-five percent of cancellations were determined to be nonforeseeable, 12.5% foreseeable, and 12.5% indeterminate. The most common reasons for cancellation were medical (55%), patient-initiated cancellation (12%), procedure no longer required (10%), and administrative or scheduling conflicts (10%). Twenty-six (7.3%) patients died within 30 days after their cancelled vascular operation. Most patients (69%) eventually received the planned operation, with a mean interval of 45.5 ± 135.8 days between cancellation and performance of the aforementioned procedure.

At our institution, same-day cancellations of vascular surgical procedures were infrequent (2%). Most cancellations were due to medical reasons. Although most cancellations were determined to be nonforeseeable, emphasizing foreseeable cancellations may provide opportunities to improve patient care, enhance satisfaction, and reduce future cancellations.