Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41241876›Full record

ArticleJournal of surgical oncology2026

Reproducibility and Consistency of Methods to Define Hospital-Level Procedural Volume Thresholds for Pancreatectomy.

Kristen N Kaiser, Alexa J Hughes, Jeannette W Chung, Adam S Wilk, Katie Ross-Driscoll, Rachel E Patzer, Karl Y Bilimoria, Ryan J Ellis

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of surgical oncology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Hospital volume stratification using stratum-specific likelihood ratios for pancreatectomy.Journal of gastrointestinal surgery : official journal of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract · 2026
    Article
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

8 authors.

Kristen N KaiserDepartment of Surgery, Indiana School of Medicine, Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement Center (SOQIC), Indianapolis, Indiana.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9151-3164
Alexa J HughesDepartment of Surgery, Indiana School of Medicine, Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement Center (SOQIC), Indianapolis, Indiana.
Jeannette W ChungDepartment of Surgery, Indiana School of Medicine, Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement Center (SOQIC), Indianapolis, Indiana.
Adam S WilkDepartment of Surgery, Indiana School of Medicine, Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement Center (SOQIC), Indianapolis, Indiana.
Katie Ross-DriscollDepartment of Surgery, Indiana School of Medicine, Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement Center (SOQIC), Indianapolis, Indiana.
Rachel E PatzerDepartment of Surgery, Indiana School of Medicine, Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement Center (SOQIC), Indianapolis, Indiana.
Karl Y BilimoriaDepartment of Surgery, Indiana School of Medicine, Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement Center (SOQIC), Indianapolis, Indiana.
Ryan J EllisDepartment of Surgery, Indiana School of Medicine, Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement Center (SOQIC), Indianapolis, Indiana.

Funding

Surgical Oncology Research Training at Indiana (SORTI)T32CA282070 · NCI · INDIANA UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS · PI KARL Y BILIMORIA, Harikrishna Nakshatri · 2024 to 2026
$1.5M
K.K. and A.H. were supported on a training grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI T32CA282070). The funding agency has no relationship to the present work. None of the authors have financial disclosures.NCI NIH HHS T32 CA282070
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionProcedural volume thresholds (VTs) for hospital quality reporting rely on expert consensus or analytic methods that may produce inconsistent VTs (e.g. restricted cubic splines (RCS), optimal cutpoints, classification and regression trees (CART), stratum specific likelihood ratios (SSLR)). The objective of this study was to compare variation in hospital-level VTs for pancreatectomy across multiple methodologies.

methodsPatients undergoing pancreatectomy from 2004 to 2021 were identified using the National Cancer Database. RCS, optimal cutpoints, CART, and SSLR were used to compute VTs based on 90-day mortality. From a single clinical data set, VTs were derived multiple times for each method by varying statistical parameters within each model.

resultsOverall, 61,920 patients underwent pancreatectomy at 982 hospitals. VTs associated with reductions in 90-day mortality ranged from 9.2 to 26.1 cases/year (RCS), 15.7-33.8 cases/year (optimal cutpoints), and 11-18 cases/year (CART), all based on modifiable statistical parameters. SSLR analysis yielded a singular VT of 21 cases/year without variability due to lack of statistical input.

conclusionAmong 4 common strategies for identifying VT that we studied, SSLR required the fewest assumptions. This may make it ideal for enhancing transparency and standardization in outcomes reporting.

Indexed as

HospitalsHospitals, High-VolumePancreatectomyPancreatic NeoplasmsAgedFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedReproducibility of ResultsUnited Statesclassification and regression treescubic splinesoptimal cutpointspancreatectomystratum specific likelihood ratiosvolume‐outcome relationship

Identifiers

PMID41241876
PMCPMC13401272

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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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.