While the practice of concurrent surgeries has come under fire in the last couple of years, a new study found that several outcomes were actually better in overlapping neurosurgeries.
A large analysis of nearly 15,000 neurosurgical procedures showed that patient outcomes were no worse with concurrent surgeries and several outcomes were improved, according to Medscape, which reported on the findings presented at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons 2017 annual meeting in Los Angeles.
"We found that in every single outcome measure where there was a significant difference between patients who had overlapping surgery and those who didn't, it was in favor of the overlapping surgery group,” the publication quoted the study’s coauthor Michael Bohl, M.D., a neurosurgery resident with the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, in the report.
Researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of 14,872 neurosurgeries performed between July 2013 and June 2016, dividing the procedures into those performed with concurrent surgeries and those that were not. The study showed in overlapping surgery cases, outcomes were better when it came to length of stay in the hospital, return to the operating room and disposition status, Medscape reported.
The practice of concurrent or simultaneous surgeries came to the public’s attention after a series of articles were published in The Boston Globe that reported on the controversial practice where a surgeon performs two surgeries on two different patients in two different operating rooms at the same time, turning over parts of the surgery to residents.
A U.S. Senate Committee last year investigated the practice, which is common at 47 hospitals across the country, and in December released a report urging hospitals to prohibit the practice of allowing one surgeon to manage two operations where critical parts occur at the same time.
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New guidelines were released last April by the American College of Surgeons that stress informed consent so a patient knows that a surgeon will be performing concurrent surgeries.