SynthesisSystematic reviews2016
Relationship between surgeon volume and outcomes: a systematic review of systematic reviews.
Synthesis in Systematic reviews, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 143 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
143 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 347 citations in OpenAlex.
- Development of a core outcome set for studies on centralization of healthcare services.BMC health services research · 2026Pooled it
- Volume‒outcome relationships in bariatric surgery: a rapid review.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2026Pooled it
- Pediatric vs Adult or Mixed Trauma Centers in Children Admitted to Hospitals Following Trauma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2023Pooled it
- Hospital volume-outcome relationship in total knee arthroplasty: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2022Pooled it
- The relationship between procedural volume and patient outcomes for percutaneous coronary interventions: a systematic review and meta-analysis.HRB open research · 2021Pooled it
- Minimum volume standards in day surgery: a systematic review.BMC health services research · 2020Pooled it
- Safe cholecystectomy multi-society practice guideline and state-of-the-art consensus conference on prevention of bile duct injury during cholecystectomy.Surgical endoscopy · 2020Guideline
- Are patients willing to accept longer travel times to decrease their risk associated with surgical procedures? A systematic review.BMC public health · 2020Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Prescribers' satisfaction with delivering medications for opioid use disorder.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2021Trial
- The Impact of Hospital Volume on Bariatric Surgery Safety: A Population-Based Study using Data from the National Bariatric Surgery Registry of the United Kingdom.Obesity surgery · 2026Article
- Clinical Outcomes, Risks, and Individualized Treatment Selection in Revisional Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery: A Narrative Review.Health science reports · 2026Article
- High-Volume Anesthesiologist and Surgeon Teams are Associated with Lower Operating Room Charges for Cytoreductive Surgery with Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy.Annals of surgical oncology · 2026Article
- Weekend Hospital Admission and Outcomes Following Emergency Cholecystectomy: A National Analysis of 194,787 Admissions, 2018-2022.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- What influences UK-practising consultant hip surgeons' decision-making about implant fixation? An interview study.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Safer and faster: evaluation of a dental implant checklist.Clinical oral investigations · 2026Article
- Meta-Analysis: The Holy Grail?Cardiovascular and interventional radiology · 2026Review
- Impact of Surgeon Procedural Volume on Outcomes Following Cervical Disc Arthroplasty: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Cureus · 2026Article
- Should all pyloromyotomies for infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis be performed by pediatric surgeons?Pediatric surgery international · 2026Article
- Cooperative spatial modelling of hospital compliance with minimum caseload requirements.International journal of health geographics · 2026Article
83 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe surgeon volume-outcome relationship has been discussed for many years and its existence or nonexistence is of importance for various reasons. A lot of empirical work has been published on it. We aimed to summarize systematic reviews in order to present current evidence.
methodsMedline, Embase, Cochrane database of systematic reviews (CDSR), and health technology assessment websites were searched up to October 2015 for systematic reviews on the surgeon volume-outcome relationship. Reviews were critically appraised, and results were extracted and synthesized by type of surgical procedure/condition.
resultsThirty-two reviews reporting on 15 surgical procedures/conditions were included. Methodological quality of included systematic reviews assessed with the assessment of multiple systematic reviews (AMSTAR) was generally moderate to high albeit included literature partly neglected considering methodological issues specific to volume-outcome relationship. Most reviews tend to support the presence of a surgeon volume-outcome relationship. This is most clear-cut in colorectal cancer, bariatric surgery, and breast cancer where reviews of high quality show large effects.
conclusionsWhen taking into account its limitations, this overview can serve as an informational basis for decision makers. Our results seem to support a positive volume-outcome relationship for most procedures/conditions. However, forthcoming reviews should pay more attention to methodology specific to volume-outcome relationship. Due to the lack of information, any numerical recommendations for minimum volume thresholds are not possible. Further research is needed for this issue.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.