Failure to rescue after surgical re-exploration in lung resection

Surgical re-exploration after lung resection remains poorly characterized, although institutional series have previously reported its association with greater mortality and complications. The present study sought to examine the impact of institutional lung-resection volume on the incidence of and short-term outcomes after surgical re-exploration.

The 2007 to 2018 National Inpatient Sample was used to identify all adults who underwent lobectomy or pneumonectomy. Hospitals were divided into tertiles based on institutional lung-resection caseload. Multivariable regressions were used to identify associations between independent covariates on clinical outcomes.

Of an estimated 329,273 patients, 3,592 (1.09%) were re-explored with decreasing incidence over time. Open and minimal access pneumonectomy among other factors were associated with greater odds of reoperation. Those re-explored had greater odds of mortality and complications as well as increased duration of stay and adjusted costs. Although risk of re-exploration was similar across hospital tertiles, reoperative mortality was significantly lower at high-volume hospitals.

Re-exploration after lung resection is uncommon; however, when occurring, it is associated with worse clinical outcomes. After re-exploration, high-volume center status was associated with reduced odds of mortality relative to low volume. Failure to rescue at lower-volume centers suggests the need for optimization of perioperative factors to decrease incidence of reoperation.