Ranking the Orthopedic Procedures With the Highest Morbidity and Mortality

Musculoskeletal conditions currently affect more than one-third of the US population and orthopedic procedures play a pivotal role in managing them. Like any invasive intervention, these carry a wide spectrum of risk, necessitating a comprehensive understanding of the associated morbidity and mortality. This study sought to provide a global perspective of the risks and complications associated with these procedures to establish an easy to understand risk stratification tool for both patients and providers.

Current Procedural Terminology codes associated with orthopedic surgery were identified in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database from 2018 to 2020. Each code was associated with its rate of 30-day mortality as well as any adverse event (AAE) and then ranked for descriptive analysis.

In total, there were 698,549 patients who underwent orthopedic procedures associated with 94 CPT codes with at least 1 morbidity event and 144 CPT codes with at least 1 AAE. The CPT code associated with the highest mortality was 27590 or above knee amputation. The CPT code associated with the highest rate of AAE was 27507 or open treatment of femoral shaft fracture with plate and screws.

This is the first study to compare the rates of morbidity and mortality in all patients with orthopedic procedures. There was a strong bias toward increased risk associated with lower extremity surgery and surgery most often performed in the geriatric population. [Orthopedics. 2025;48(1):e40-e44.].