The Risk-Benefit Ratio Comment on “Outcomes and Costs of Elective Surgery for Diverticular Disease” The Risk-Benefit Ratio

Ludwig KA, Kosinski LA. — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Van Arendonk et al used the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database to evaluate outcomes for colon surgery based on the disease being treated: colon cancer (CC), diverticular disease (DD), or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). They conclude that elective resection for DD, when the analysis is adjusted for demographic and clinical characteristics, is associated with a higher morbidity and mortality rate than that seen when operating because of CC and that these data should then be used to question the advisability of offering routine elective colectomy after successful nonoperative management of acute diverticulitis. The underlying concept or assumption seems to be that many patients being offered elective resection for DD do not really need the operation, since recent data and guidelines would suggest that the course of their disease may not ultimately take them to a middle-of-the-night emergency operation for perforation that routinely involves a stoma and the subsequent operation to reestablish gastrointestinal tract continuity. The implication is that, before we offer an elective resection for DD, we should be aware that the risk of such an undertaking may be greater than we appreciate, suggesting that perhaps we should stand down, observe, treat expectantly, and not operate so frequently. I assume we are to suppose that the sequelae of DD—inflammation, distortion of tissue planes, thick mesentery, etc—make surgery riskier and that, since the natural course of the disease is such that complications may not arise after an episode or two, why operate?

JAMA Surgery: Statistics and Research Methods Topic Collection

The Risk-Benefit Ratio Comment on “Outcomes and Costs of Elective Surgery for Diverticular Disease” The Risk-Benefit Ratio