Overlapping Urological Surgeries at a Tertiary Academic Center

Area of Science:

• Urology
• Surgical Outcomes
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Overlapping surgery (OS) is a practice where multiple surgical procedures occur concurrently.
• Data on the safety and efficacy of OS in urological surgeries is limited.
• This study addresses the paucity of evidence to support or refute the practice of OS in urology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate if procedure-time overlapping surgery (OS) is associated with inferior outcomes compared to nonoverlapping surgery (NOS) in urology.
• To provide evidence-based data on the safety of OS in urological procedures.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of 8535 urological surgeries at a single tertiary-level academic center.
• Matching patients who received OS 1:2 with patients who had NOS.
• Primary outcomes included perioperative and postoperative complications and mortality.

Main Results:

• Procedure-time overlap occurred in 7.4% of cases; in-room time overlap was seen in 50.5%.
• OS cases had a slightly longer average in-room time (14 minutes) and operative time (11 minutes), but this was not statistically significant.
• No significant differences were observed in complication rates, mortality, ICU stay, readmissions, or length of hospital stay between OS and NOS cohorts.

Conclusions:

• Procedure-time overlapping surgeries represent a minority of urological cases.
• While OS is associated with increased in-room time, it does not lead to a higher risk of perioperative or postoperative adverse outcomes.
• The findings suggest that OS can be performed without compromising patient safety in urology.