Study Finds Significant Variation in Hospital Performance After Colorectal Cancer Surgery

Significant variations in hospital performance after colorectal cancer surgery were observed in a Dutch population-based study. The study analyzed data from over 44,000 colorectal cancer patients and found that two hospitals performed worse than expected in terms of 90-day mortality, while significant outliers were observed for anastomotic leakage in both colon cancer and rectal cancer cohorts. Lower case volume was significantly associated with anastomotic leakage in colon cancer patients. The study suggests that concentrating care may improve outcomes by enhancing individual surgical performance and optimizing care pathways, regardless of teaching status.