BMJ : British medical journal
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To measure the association between a surgeon's degree of specialization in a specific procedure and patient mortality. ⋯ For several common procedures, surgeon specialization was an important predictor of operative mortality independent of volume in that specific procedure. When selecting a surgeon, patients, referring physicians, and administrators assigning operative workload may want to consider a surgeon's procedure specific volume as well as the degree to which a surgeon specializes in that procedure.