Supervisor volume affects oncological outcomes of trainees performing open radical prostatectomy

The Need for Centralization for Small Intestinal Neuroendocrine Tumor Surgery: A Cohort Study from the GTE-Endocan-RENATEN Network, the CentralChirSINET Study

BACKGROUND

The concept of surgical centralization is becoming more and more accepted for specific surgical procedures.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between procedure volume and the outcomes of surgical small intestine (SI) neuroendocrine tumor (NET) resections.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective national study that included patients who underwent SI-NET resection between 2019 and 2021. A high-volume center (hvC) was defined as a center that performed more than five SI-NET resections per year. The quality of the surgical resections was evaluated between hvCs and low-volume centers (lvCs) by comparing the number of resected lymph nodes (LNs) as the primary endpoint.

RESULTS

A total of 157 patients underwent surgery in 33 centers: 90 patients in four hvCs and 67 patients in 29 lvCs. Laparotomy was more often performed in hvCs (85.6% vs. 59.7%; p < 0.001), as was right hemicolectomy (64.4% vs. 38.8%; p < 0.001), whereas limited ileocolic resection was performed in 18% of patients in lvCs versus none in hvCs. A bi-digital palpation of the entire SI length (95.6% vs. 34.3%, p < 0.001), a cholecystectomy (93.3% vs. 14.9%; p < 0.001), and a mesenteric mass resection (70% vs. 35.8%; p < 0.001) were more often performed in hvCs. The proportion of patients with ≥8 LNs resected was significantly higher (96.3% vs. 65.1%; p < 0.001) in hvCs compared with lvCs, as was the proportion of patients with ≥12 LNs resected (87.8% vs. 52.4%). Furthermore, the number of patients with multiple SI-NETs was higher in the hvC group compared with the lvC group (43.3% vs. 25.4%), as were the number of tumors in those patients (median of 7 vs. 2; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Optimal SI-NET resection was significantly more often performed in hvCs. Centralization of surgical care of SI-NETs is recommended.

A Systematic Review of the Impact of Surgeon and Hospital Caseload Volume on Oncological and Nononcological Outcomes After Radical Prostatectomy for Nonmetastatic Prostate Cancer

CONTEXT

The impact of surgeon and hospital volume on outcomes after radical prostatectomy (RP) for localised prostate cancer (PCa) remains unknown.

OBJECTIVE

To perform a systematic review on the association between surgeon or hospital volume and oncological and nononcological outcomes following RP for PCa.

EVIDENCE ACQUISITION

Medline, Medline In-Process, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched. All comparative studies for nonmetastatic PCa patients treated with RP published between January 1990 and May 2020 were included. For inclusion, studies had to compare hospital or surgeon volume, defined as caseload per unit time. Main outcomes included oncological (including prostate-specific antigen persistence, positive surgical margin [PSM], biochemical recurrence, local and distant recurrence, and cancer-specific and overall survival) and nononcological (perioperative complications including need for blood transfusion, conversion to open procedure and within 90-d death, and continence and erectile function) outcomes. Risk of bias (RoB) and confounding assessments were undertaken. Both a narrative and a quantitative synthesis were planned if the data allowed.

EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS

Sixty retrospective comparative studies were included. Generally, increasing surgeon and hospital volumes were associated with lower rates of mortality, PSM, adjuvant or salvage therapies, and perioperative complications. Combining group size cut-offs as used in the included studies, the median threshold for hospital volume at which outcomes start to diverge is 86 (interquartile range [IQR] 35-100) cases per year. In addition, above this threshold, the higher the caseload, the better the outcomes, especially for PSM. RoB and confounding were high for most domains.

CONCLUSIONS

Higher surgeon and hospital volumes for RP are associated with lower rates of PSMs, adjuvant or salvage therapies, and perioperative complications. This association becomes apparent from a caseload of >86 (IQR 35-100) per year and may further improve hereafter. Both high- and low-volume centres should measure their outcomes, make them publicly available, and improve their quality of care if needed.

PATIENT SUMMARY

We reviewed the literature to determine whether the number of prostate cancer operations (radical prostatectomy) performed in a hospital affects the outcomes of surgery. We found that, overall, hospitals with a higher number of operations per year have better outcomes in terms of cancer recurrence and complications during or after hospitalisation. However, it must be noted that surgeons working in hospitals with lower annual operations can still achieve similar or even better outcomes. Therefore, making hospital's outcome data publicly available should be promoted internationally, so that patients can make an informed decision where they want to be treated.

Evaluation of the Effect of Operator Experience on Outcome of Hepatic Artery Embolization of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in a Tertiary Cancer Center

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES

There is lack of information on the learning curve and the effect of operator's experience on the quality outcomes of transarterial hepatic embolization (TAE). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of operator experience on outcomes of TAE of hepatocellular carcinoma.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Demographic characteristics and outcomes including overall survival (OS), time to local tumor progression (TLP), and post-procedure complications in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma treated with TAE were collected. Operators' experience was measured in years based on the years after completion of fellowship and the date of first embolization, and was divided into five groups: G1, less than 5 years of operator's experience (YOE) at the time of first embolization; G2, 5-10 YOE; G3, 10-15 YOE; G4, 15-20 YOE; and G5, more than 20 YOE. The effects of operator's experience and outcomes were assessed using linear regression.

RESULTS

From January 2012 to January 2015, 93 patients (age range = 30-86 years) were treated. The number of patients treated by each group was as follows: G1 = 12; G2 = 8; G3 = 23; G4 = 5; and G5 = 45. All groups were similar in regard to degree of cirrhosis, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer staging, and Child-Pugh score (P > .05). Median TLP was 8.8 months. TLP was 7.0, 6.8, 19.2, 7.9, and 8.2 months in G1, G2, G3, G4, and G5, respectively (P = .56). OS for 1, 2, and 3 years was 75%, 56%, and 42% for G1; 87%, 54%, and 54% for G2; 91%, 71%, and 45% for G3, 100%, 50%, and 0 for G4; and 84%, 65%, and 40% for G5.

CONCLUSION

Among interventional radiology fellowship-trained operators in a tertiary cancer center, OS, TLP, and post-procedure complications of TAE were not affected by the years of post-fellowship experience.