Compliance With Preoperative Elements of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons Rectal Cancer Surgery Checklist Improves Pathologic and Postoperative Outcomes

BACKGROUND: In 2016, the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons published a rectal cancer surgery checklist composed of the essential elements of preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative care for patients undergoing rectal cancer surgery. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess whether compliance with preoperative checklist elements was associated with improved pathologic and 30-day postoperative outcomes after rectal cancer surgery. DESIGN: This was a retrospective cohort study. SETTINGS: The study involved North American hospitals contributing to the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. PATIENTS: Adult patients who underwent elective rectal cancer surgery from 2016 to 2017 were included. INTERVENTION: The study encompassed checklist compliance with 6 preoperative elements from the checklist. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Pathologic outcomes (circumferential resection margin status, distal resection margin status, and adequate lymph node harvest ≥12), 30-day surgical morbidity, and length of stay were measured. RESULTS: In total, 2217 patients were included in the analysis. Individual compliance with the 6 available preoperative checklist items was variable, including 91.3% for pretreatment documentation of tumor location within the rectum, 86.8% for complete colonoscopy, 84.0% for appropriate preoperative stoma marking, 79.8% for appropriate use of neoadjuvant radiotherapy, 76.6% for locoregio...
Source: Diseases of the Colon and Rectum - Category: Gastroenterology Tags: Original Contributions: Colorectal Cancer Source Type: research