Cancer Surgery Patients Less Likely to Die

A new study suggests that cancer surgery patients may have more complications following procedures but, in the end, could be less likely to die thanks to the beneficial medical treatments.

According to researchers at Henry Ford Hospital and others in the United States, Canada and Germany, this could potentially lead to changes in the national health care policy and relocation of resources.

"Our report shows that while the incidence of preventable adverse events after major cancer surgery - blood clots, infections, respiratory failure and pressure ulcers - is increasing, the overall mortality of patients undergoing these procedures is decreasing in the U. S.," said Jesse Sammon, D.O., Henry Ford Hospital urologist, via a press release. "This paradox is explained in our report by the fact that physicians are probably getting increasingly better at identifying these adverse events early and managing them more effectively, thereby leading to lower mortality rates from adverse events and, by extension, lower overall mortality rates in the entire population of patients undergoing these procedures."

Yet researchers point out that more needs to be done in order to prevent complications.

"Just because physicians have become increasingly effective at managing these adverse events once they occur does not obviate the fact that there's still a lot of room for improvement in reducing the actual occurrence of these adverse events in the first place," Dr. Sammon said, via the release.

According to the study, researchers focused on 2.5 million surgery patients over the age of 18 who had undergone a major cancer procedure between 1999 and 2009.

The operations included both partial or complete removal of a cancerous colon, bladder, esophagus, stomach, uterus, lung, pancreas or prostate.

The findings showed an increase in infections, pressure, ulcers and respiratory failure after surgery. However, there was also an improvement in the prevention of anesthetic- and transfusion-related complications and hip fractions.

More information regarding the study can be found in the British Medical Journal Open.