Published in:
01-09-2017 | Editorials
Precise mathematics yet hazy predictions: Can validated risk indices help improve patient selection for major elective surgery?
Author:
Duminda N. Wijeysundera, MD, PhD
Published in:
Canadian Journal of Anesthesia/Journal canadien d'anesthésie
|
Issue 9/2017
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Excerpt
Not uncommonly, anesthesiologists face the scenario of a very high-risk patient being considered for major elective surgery. Many reasonable doctors speculate whether the likelihood of such a patient’s survival might be better served with a non-operative treatment option. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there are remarkably few data available to better our understanding of this important issue. In this issue of the
Journal, McIsaac
et al. present a population-based retrospective cohort study, by which they sought, in part, to quantify how patients’ observed survival after major elective noncardiac surgery compared with their expected survival based on their baseline preoperative health status.
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