Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36050715›Full record

ArticleJournal of cardiothoracic surgery2022

Do older surgeons have safer hands? A retrospective cohort study.

Victoria Rizzo, Edward J Caruana, Kathrin Freystaetter, Gareth Parry, Stephen C Clark

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of cardiothoracic surgery, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
0.4field-weighted citation impact, top 36% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Victoria RizzoCardiothoracic Centre, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE7 7DN, United Kingdom. victoria.rizzo@nhs.net.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2153-8892
Edward J CaruanaDepartment of Thoracic Surgery, Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, LE3 9QP, United Kingdom.
Kathrin FreystaetterCardiothoracic Centre, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE7 7DN, United Kingdom.
Gareth ParryCardiothoracic Centre, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE7 7DN, United Kingdom.
Stephen C ClarkCardiothoracic Centre, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE7 7DN, United Kingdom.
Freeman Hospital · GBGlenfield Hospital · GBGuy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundFor complex surgical procedures a volume-outcome relationship can often be demonstrated implicating multiple factors at a unit and surgeon specific level. This study aims to investigate this phenomenon in lung transplantation over a 30-year period with particular reference to surgeon age and experience, cumulative unit activity and time/day of transplant.

methodsProspective databases identified adult patients undergoing isolated lung transplantation at a single UK centre between June 1987 and October 2017. Mortality data was acquired from NHS Spine. Individual surgeon demographics were obtained from the General Medical Council. Student t-test, Pearson's Chi-squared, Logistic Regression, and Kaplan-Meier Survival analyses were performed using Analyse-it package for MicrosoftExcel and STATA/IC.

results954 transplants (55.9% male, age 44.4 ± 13.8 years, 67.9% bilateral lung) were performed, with a median survival to follow-up of 4.37 years. There was no difference in survival by recipient gender (p = 0.661), between individual surgeons (p = 0.224), or between weekday/weekend procedures (p = 0.327). Increasing centre experience with lung transplantation (OR1.001, 95%CI: 1.000-1.001, p = 0.03) and successive calendar years (OR1.028, 95%CI: 1.005-1.052, p = 0.017) was associated with improved 5-year survival. Advancing surgeon age at the time of transplant (mean, 48.8 ± 6.6 years) was associated with improved 30-day survival (OR1.062, 95%CI: 1.019 to1.106, p = 0.003), which persisted 5 years post-transplant (OR1.043, 95%CI: 1.014-1.073, p = 0.003). Individual surgeon experience, measured by the number of previous lung transplants performed, showed a trend towards improved outcomes at 30 days (p = 0.0413) with no difference in 5-year survival (p = 0.192).

conclusionsOur study demonstrates a relationship between unit volume, increasing surgeon age and survival after lung transplantation. A transplant volume: outcome relationship was not seen for individual surgeons.

Indexed as

Lung TransplantationSurgeonsAdultFemaleHumansKaplan-Meier EstimateLungMaleMiddle AgedRetrospective StudiesTreatment OutcomeHospital medicineHuman factorsMedical educationPatient safetySurgery

Identifiers

PMID36050715
PMCPMC9438167
OpenAlexW4294018601

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.