Development of Quality Indicators for the Management of Acute Type A Aortic Dissection

In an effort to further improve surgical outcomes in patients with acute type A aortic dissection (ATAD), the Canadian Thoracic Aortic Collaborative (CTAC), with the support of the Canadian Society of Cardiac Surgeons (CSCS), endeavoured to develop quality indicators (QIs) for the management of patients with ATAD. After 2 successive consultations with the CTAC membership, 11 QIs were selected and separated into 5 broad categories: preoperative (time from presentation to diagnosis, time from presentation to the operating room), intraoperative (use of hypothermic circulatory arrest and antegrade cerebral perfusion), 30-day outcomes (30-day rates of all-cause mortality, 30-day rates of new postoperative stroke), 1-year outcomes (1-year rates of follow-up imaging, 1-year rates of all-cause mortality, and 1-year rates of surgical reintervention), and institutional (institutional surgical volumes, individual surgical volumes, and presence of institutional aortic disease teams). The purpose of this article is to describe the process by which QIs for the management of ATAD were developed and the feasibility by which they may be collected using existing clinical and administrative data sources. Furthermore, we demonstrate how they may be used to evaluate success following surgery for repair of ATAD and ultimately improve clinical outcomes.