JAMA surgery
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The clinical evidence base demonstrating bariatric surgery's health benefits is much larger than it was when the National Institutes of Health last held a consensus panel in 1991. Still, it remains unclear whether ongoing studies will address critical questions about long-term complication rates and the sustainability of weight loss and comorbidity control. ⋯ High-quality evidence shows that bariatric surgical procedures result in greater weight loss than nonsurgical treatments and are more effective at inducing initial type 2 diabetes mellitus remission in obese patients. More information is needed about the long-term durability of comorbidity control and complications after bariatric procedures and this evidence will most likely come from carefully designed observational studies.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Perioperative mortality following repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms: application of a randomized clinical trial to real-world practice using a validated nationwide data set.
Because of the restrictions applied to the conduct of randomized clinical trials, the risks reported in their comparison of open and endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) may not be applicable to real-world vascular surgical practice. The magnitude of this deviation is indeterminate. ⋯ Perioperative mortality reported by the OVER trial is significantly lower than outcomes from practices outside the restriction of randomized clinical trials. We attribute this difference to the fact that the OVER trial excluded high-risk patients deemed unfit for open repair. This finding supports the need for individualized assessment of risk and treatment selection for patients with infrarenal AAA. There has been no change in perioperative mortality after EVAR in recent years despite improvements in techniques, devices, and proficiency.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Cost-effectiveness of cervical total disc replacement vs fusion for the treatment of 2-level symptomatic degenerative disc disease.
Cervical total disc replacement (CTDR) was developed to treat cervical spondylosis, while preserving motion. While anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) has been the standard of care for 2-level disease, a randomized clinical trial (RCT) suggested similar outcomes. Cost-effectiveness of this intervention has never been elucidated. ⋯ The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of CTDR compared with traditional ACDF is lower than the commonly accepted threshold of $50,000 per QALY. This remains true with varying input parameters in a robust sensitivity analysis, reaffirming the stability of the model and the sustainability of this intervention.
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Multicenter Study
The association between hospital care intensity and surgical outcomes in medicare patients.
Hospitals' care intensity varies widely across the United States. Payers and policy makers have become focused on promoting quality, low-cost, efficient health care. ⋯ Failure-to-rescue rates were lower at high-care intensity hospitals. Conversely, care intensity explains a very small proportion of variation in failure-to-rescue rates across hospitals.
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Hospital readmission after colorectal surgery is common, with reported 30-day readmission rates ranging from 10% to 14%. Readmission has become a major hospital quality metric, but it is unclear whether there is much difference in readmission among hospitals after appropriate risk adjustment. ⋯ Little risk-adjusted variation exists in hospital readmission rates after colorectal surgery. The use of readmission rates as a high-stakes quality measure for payment adjustment or public reporting across surgical specialties should proceed cautiously and must include appropriate risk adjustment.