Profession
Kidney cancer patients found to do better at high-volume hospitals
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted June 14, 2004
Mortality rates for patients having surgery for kidney cancer were lower at high-volume hospitals, according to a recent study conducted by University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, researchers and published in the May Urology.
Researchers analyzed 20,765 cases between 1993 and 1997 and found that there was an overall mortality rate of 1.39%, which declined as surgical volumes increased.
Patients at hospitals that performed more than 33 nephrectomies a year had a 32% lower risk of dying in the hospital than patients where 15 to 33 were performed. They also had a 25% lower risk than patients operated on in hospitals where one to 14 nephrectomies were performed.
"Large-scale regionalization or selective referral has the potential to improve outcomes, but additional studies are necessary to determine the costs and benefits of such an approach," the researchers stated.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/06/14/prbf0614.htm.
