What is the published evidence of an association between hospital volume and operative mortality for surgical repair (open and endovascular) of unruptured and ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms?
McIntosh H
Record ID 32013000476
English
Authors' recommendations:
Summary
This scoping report focused on studies examining the association between hospital volume and
mortality following elective repair of unruptured aneurysms and repair of ruptured aneurysms. The available evidence appears to support a hospital volume-outcome association for elective OSR in so far as the majority of published primary studies have reported statistically significant findings, whereas the evidence from studies of ruptured aneurysm
repair is inconsistent. Very little secondary evidence relating to hospital volume and EVAR was
identified.
The evidence sources reviewed identified only observational studies from which it was not possible to ascertain whether the observed
hospital volume-outcome relationship for elective AAA repair was causal. The observed associations represent only the average performance of low and high volume hospitals and do not capture the variability that suggests that hospital volume is not the only factor driving mortality rates. There
was insufficient evidence in the hospital volume outcome
literature to inform conclusions about the influence that other factors associated with high hospital volume, such as processes of care, might have on surgical mortality.
The evidence reviewed was not sufficiently robust to allow the determination of a definite threshold
for categorising hospitals as high or low volume, or an optimal hospital volume above which there is
no reduction in mortality.
The guidelines and frameworks identified variously recommend a minimum of either 20 or 50 elective
AAA repairs per unit per year, whether by OSR or EVAR; and, with respect to EVAR specifically, a
minimum of 20–30 procedures per unit per year.
Details
Project Status:
Completed
Year Published:
2012
URL for published report:
http://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.org/our_work/technologies_and_medicines/earlier_scoping_reports/technologies_scoping_report_4.aspx
English language abstract:
An English language summary is available
Publication Type:
Not Assigned
Country:
Scotland, United Kingdom
MeSH Terms
- Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal
- Hospital Mortality
- Length of Stay
- Hospitals, High-Volume
- Endovascular Procedures
- Quality of Health Care
- Treatment Outcome
Contact
Organisation Name:
Scottish Health Technologies Group
Contact Address:
Scottish Health Technologies Group, Delta House, 50 West Nile Street, Glasgow, G1 2NP Tel: 0141 225 6998
Contact Name:
his.shtg@nhs.scot
Contact Email:
his.shtg@nhs.scot
Copyright:
Scottish Health Technologies Group
This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA or other HTA producer. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database.