Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 28, 2025
09:51
The Transition to an Anterior-Based Muscle Sparing Approach Improves Early Postoperative Function but is Associated with a Learning Curve
Published on: September 7, 2022
3.4K
Assessment of Short-Term Patient Outcomes Following Overlapping Orthopaedic Surgery at a Large Academic Medical
Gregory Glauser1, Benjamin Osiemo2,3, Stephen Goodrich2,3
1Departments of Neurosurgery (G.G. and N.R.M.) and Orthopedic Surgery (K.L.W. and L.S.L.), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. American Volume
|February 15, 2020
Summary
Overlapping surgery in orthopaedics did not increase adverse patient outcomes like reoperation or readmission. However, end overlap was linked to a higher rate of return to surgery at 90 days.
Area of Science:
- Orthopaedic Surgery
- Patient Safety
- Health Services Research
Background:
- Overlapping surgery, a common practice, lacks extensive study.
- Assessing the impact of overlapping surgery on orthopaedic patient outcomes is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if overlapping surgery is associated with adverse outcomes in orthopaedic patients.
- To evaluate the safety of elective orthopaedic surgical interventions involving surgeon overlap.
Main Methods:
- Coarsened exact matching (CEM) applied to 18,316 elective orthopaedic surgeries (2014-2015).
- Overlap categorized as any, beginning, or end overlap.
- Outcomes studied included return to surgery, reoperation, readmission, emergency room visits, and mortality.
Main Results:
- Any overlap did not predict 30- or 90-day return to surgery, reoperation, readmission, or ER visits.
- Surgical overlap was associated with reduced mortality (1.8% vs. 2.6%, p=0.029).
- End overlap showed an increased unexpected return to the operating room at 90 days (13.3% vs. 9.7%, p=0.015).
Conclusions:
- Nonconcurrent overlapping surgery is not linked to adverse outcomes in a large orthopaedic population.
- While generally safe, end overlap warrants further investigation regarding return to surgery rates.
