The Annals of thoracic surgery | 2021
Continued Relevance of Minimum Volume Standards for Elective Esophagectomy: A National Perspective.
Abstract
BACKGROUND\nDespite minimum volume recommendations, the majority of esophagectomies are performed at centers with fewer than 20 annual cases. The present study examined the impact of institutional esophagectomy volume on in-hospital mortality, complications and resource use following esophageal resection.\n\n\nMETHODS\nThe 2010-2018 Nationwide Readmissions Database was queried to identify all adult patients undergoing esophagectomy for malignancy. Hospitals were categorized as high-volume (HVH) if performing at least 20 esophagectomies annually, and low-volume (LVH) if fewer. Multivariable models were developed to study the impact of volume on outcomes of interest which included in-hospital mortality, complications, duration of hospitalization (LOS), inflation adjusted costs, readmissions, and non-home discharge.\n\n\nRESULTS\nOf an estimated 23,176 hospitalizations, 45.6% occurred at HVH. Incidence of esophagectomy increased significantly along with median institutional case load over the study period, while the proportion on hospitals considered HVH remained steady at approximately 7.4%. After adjusting for relevant patient and hospital characteristics, HVH was associated with decreased mortality (AOR=0.65), LOS (β=-1.83 days), pneumonia (AOR=0.69), prolonged ventilation (AOR=0.50), sepsis (AOR=0.80), and tracheostomy (AOR=0.66), but increased odds of non-home discharge (AOR=1.56, all P<0.01), with LVH as reference.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nMany clinical outcomes of esophagectomy are improved with no increment in costs when performed at centers with an annual caseload of at least 20, as recommended by patient advocacy organizations. These findings suggest that centralization of esophageal resections to high-volume centers may be congruent with value-based care models.