Evaluating the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program-Pediatric Surgical Risk Calculator for Pediatric Craniosynostosis Surgery

American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Surgical Risk Calculator as a Predictor of Postoperative Outcomes After Adult Spinal Deformity Surgery: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

In recent years, there has been an outpouring of scoring systems that were built to predict outcomes after various surgical procedures; however, research validating these studies in spinal surgery is quite limited. In this study, we evaluated the predictability of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Surgical Risk Calculator (ACS NSQIP SRC) for various postoperative outcomes after spinal deformity surgery.

METHODS

A retrospective chart review was conducted to identify patients who underwent spinal deformity surgery at our hospital between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2022. Demographic and clinical data necessary to use the ACS NSQIP SRC and postoperative outcomes were collected for these patients. Predictability was analyzed using the area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic curves and Brier scores.

RESULTS

Among the 159 study patients, the mean age was 64.5 ± 9.5 years, mean body mass index was 31.9 ± 6.6, and 95 (59.7%) patients were women. The outcome most accurately predicted by the ACS NSQIP SRC was postoperative pneumonia (observed = 5.0% vs predicted = 3.2%, AUC = 0.75, Brier score = 0.05), but its predictability still fell below the acceptable threshold. Other outcomes that were underpredicted by the ACS NSQIP SRC were readmission within 30 days (observed = 13.8% vs predicted = 9.0%, AUC = 0.63, Brier score = 0.12), rate of discharge to nursing home or rehabilitation facilities (observed = 56.0% vs predicted = 46.6%, AUC = 0.59, Brier = 0.26), reoperation (observed 11.9% vs predicted 5.4%, AUC = 0.60, Brier = 0.11), surgical site infection (observed 9.4% vs predicted 3.5%, AUC = 0.61, Brier = 0.05), and any complication (observed 33.3% vs 19%, AUC = 0.65, Brier = 0.23). Predicted and observed length of stay were not significantly associated (β = 0.132, P = .47).

CONCLUSION

The ACS NSQIP SRC is a poor predictor of outcomes after spinal deformity surgery.

High-performance pediatric surgical risk calculator: A novel algorithm based on machine learning and pediatric NSQIP data

BACKGROUNDS

New methods such as machine learning could provide accurate predictions with little statistical assumptions. We seek to develop prediction model of pediatric surgical complications based on pediatric National Surgical Quality Improvement Program(NSQIP).

METHODS

All 2012-2018 pediatric-NSQIP procedures were reviewed. Primary outcome was defined as 30-day post-operative morbidity/mortality. Morbidity was further classified as any, major and minor. Models were developed using 2012-2017 data. 2018 data was used as independent performance evaluation.

RESULTS

431,148 patients were included in the 2012-2017 training and 108,604 were included in the 2018 testing set. Our prediction models had high performance in mortality prediction at 0.94 AUC in testing set. Our models outperformed ACS-NSQIP Calculator in all categories for morbidity (0.90 AUC for major, 0.86 AUC for any, 0.69 AUC in minor complications).

CONCLUSIONS

We developed a high-performing pediatric surgical risk prediction model. This powerful tool could potentially be used to improve the surgical care quality.

Syndromic Craniosynostosis: Objective and Parent-Reported Outcome Measurements after Cranio-Facial Remodelling Surgeries

INTRODUCTION

Syndromic craniosynostosis (SC) is a rare entity compared to the non-syndromic variant. Treatment involves a multidisciplinary approach towards a multitude of problems. Early intervention is known to be better for optimum results. We reviewed outcomes of children with SC who underwent reconstructive cranio-facial surgery.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A retrospective study was conducted using data from hospital case files and the picture archival communication system. Objective data like the cephalic index (CI), both preoperatively and post-operatively, were compared. Subjective data for the cosmesis outcome - "Sloan and Whitaker outcome class" - following surgery were assessed. Also, parent-reported outcome measurement (PROM) was performed with various parameters to assess quality of life (QOL).

RESULTS

We had 21 operated cases of SC, with 19 needing cranio-facial remodelling. The male to female ratio was 11:10. Crouzon's syndrome was the most common syndromic association followed by Apert's syndrome. Nineteen patients underwent cranio-facial remodelling surgeries and 2 underwent the ventriculo-peritoneal shunt only - for raised intracranial pressure (ICP). Nine patients underwent cranial remodelling with fronto-orbital advancements, and 3 of these patients also received le-fort's type 3 osteotomy and advancement later. Ten patients underwent fronto-orbital advancement with parieto-occipital barrel-stave osteotomies.

OUTCOMES

Improvement in the CI was maximum at the 6-month follow-up. Six (37.5%) cases had Sloan class 1 outcome, 9 (56.25%) had class 2 outcomes, and 1 patient had a class 6 outcome. Whitaker cosmesis outcomes - 14 out of 16 cases (87.5%) had Category 1 outcomes. PROM was assessed. All parents reported at least a moderate improvement in cosmesis following surgery. Out of 15 cases, 10 (66%) reported significant improvement, while 4 (26.6%) cases reported moderate improvement with respect to eye and visual problems. Four parents reported snoring as a significant problem even after surgery. Most parents felt that the children were doing well, attending regular school, and social well-being was normal and had an overall good QOL.

CONCLUSIONS

SC cases may have a multitude of other problems like raised ICP, ophthalmological problems, poor intelligence, and cognition apart from cosmetic concerns. PROMs revealed good outcomes in terms of cosmesis, cognition, and ophthalmological and oral cavity-related problems. Significant improvement in overall QOL was seen in most patients following cranio-facial remodelling surgery.

Operative Time as the Predominant Risk Factor for Transfusion Requirements in Nonsyndromic Craniosynostosis Repair

Background:

Despite recent advances in surgical, anesthetic, and safety protocols in the management of nonsyndromic craniosynostosis (NSC), significant rates of intraoperative blood loss continue to be reported by multiple centers. The purpose of the current study was to examine our center’s experience with the surgical correction of NSC in an effort to determine independent risk factors of transfusion requirements.

Methods:

A retrospective cohort study of patients with NSC undergoing surgical correction at the Montreal Children’s Hospital was carried out. Baseline characteristics and perioperative complications were compared between patients receiving and not receiving transfusions and between those receiving a transfusion in excess or <25 cc/kg. Logistic regression analysis was carried out to determine independent predictors of transfusion requirements.

Results:

A total of 100 patients met our inclusion criteria with a mean transfusion requirement of 29.6 cc/kg. Eighty-seven patients (87%) required a transfusion, and 45 patients (45%) required a significant (>25 cc/kg) intraoperative transfusion. Regression analysis revealed that increasing length of surgery was the main determinant for intraoperative (P = 0.008; odds ratio, 18.48; 95% CI, 2.14–159.36) and significant (>25 cc/kg) intraoperative (P = 0.004; odds ratio, 1.95; 95% CI, 1.23–3.07) transfusions.

Conclusions:

Our findings suggest increasing operative time as the predominant risk factor for intraoperative transfusion requirements. We encourage craniofacial surgeons to consider techniques to streamline the delivery of their selected procedure, in an effort to reduce operative time while minimizing the need for transfusion.