Analysis of Mortality Associated with Gynecological Surgery Between 2000 and 2010 at the General Hospital of Albacete,Spain

Abstract

Abstract

Background: In gynecology, there is a paucity of scientific studies on surgery-related mortality, and only a few isolated figures can be found for certain procedures. There are few statistics from hospitals, cities, or countries. Objective: The aim of this research was to study the mortality between 2000 and 2010 in patients who underwent surgery in the gynecology department of the General University Hospital of Albacete, Albacete, Spain, with a particular focus on the causes of death and potential adverse effects related to these deaths, to improve health care quality. Materials and Methods: Design: This was a retrospective descriptive study of a case series. Methods: All data were taken from the medical histories at the hospital. The study included patients who underwent scheduled inpatient surgery (n = 4617). Results: During these 11 years, 14/4617 (0.3%) patients who underwent surgery in the department died. Among the 14 women who died, 13 (92.85%) had cancer and 11 died from a cause directly related to the tumor condition, rather than from the surgery itself. Among the remaining 3 (0.06%) patients, death was the result of a surgical and/or postoperative complication: 2 patients had diagnosed bilateral pulmonary thromboembolism and 1 had undiagnosed intraoperative intestinal perforation that caused septic shock with a fatal outcome. No deaths were associated with abdominal hysterectomy, laparoscopy–laparotomy for benign conditions, other vaginal surgeries, or vulvectomy. Conclusions: The mortality associated with gynecologic surgery at the General University Hospital of Albacete is extremely low, which is reassuring for its patients, and this may be because the patient population is at lower risk for mortality. (J GYNECOL SURG 32:43)