• Julio Urrutia, Macarena Valdes, Tomas Zamora, Valentina Canessa, and Jorge Briceno.
• Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Marcoleta 352, Santiago, Chile. jurrutia@med.puc.cl
• Int Orthop. 2012 Dec 1;36(12):2571-6.

PurposeThe Surgical Apgar Score (SAS) is a simple tally based on intra-operative heart rate, blood pressure and blood loss; it predicts 30-day major postoperative complications and mortality in different surgical fields, but no validation has been performed in general orthopaedic surgery.MethodsA prospective assessment of the SAS in 723 consecutive patients undergoing major and intermediate orthopaedic procedures was performed in an 18-month period. The SAS was calculated immediately after surgery, and the occurrence of major complications or death was registered within a 30-day follow-up.ResultsThirty-seven patients had ≥1 complication (5.12 %). The complication rate did not augment as the score decreased (SAS 9-10 = 6.56 %; SAS 7-8 = 2.62 %; SAS 5-6 = 7.21 %; SAS ≤4 = 10.2 %), the relative risk did not augment as the score decreased and the likelihood ratio did not increase with decreasing SAS values, except in the subgroup of patients undergoing spine surgery. The C-statistic was 0.59 (95 % confidence interval 0.48-0.69), a weak discriminatory value. Using a threshold of 7 to define high-risk and low-risk patients, the SAS allowed risk stratification only for spine surgery.ConclusionsThe SAS does not predict 30-day major complications and death in patients undergoing general orthopaedic surgery, but it is useful in the subgroup of patients undergoing spine surgery.

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