Data suggests overlapping neurosurgery is safe and may benefit patients by allowing sought-after specialists to see more patients.
The following article was originally published on the Credentialing Resource Center on November 14, 2017.
A review of more than 2,000 neurosurgical cases found no greater risk of post-operations complications for patients operated on by surgeons conducting overlapping surgeries.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, examined patients who underwent neurosurgical procedures at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta from 2014 to 2015. Of the cases reviewed, about 43% had the surgeon remain with the patient through the entire procedure. In the other 57% of cases, the primary surgeon performed two procedures in different operating rooms.
In the 90 days following their operations, no difference was found in morbidity, mortality, or worsened outcome measures between the two groups of patients. The researchers concluded that this data suggests overlapping neurosurgeries are safe and may benefit patients by allowing sought-after specialists to see more patients.
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