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1
UTILITY OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN PREDICTING
MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY A PROSPECTIVE STUDY
By
DR HARSHA A H
Dissertation submitted to the
Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences Bangalore Karnataka
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF SURGERY
In
GENERAL SURGERY
Under the guidance of
DR M R SREEVATHSA
DEPARTMENT OF SURGERY
MSRAMAIAH MEDICAL COLLEGE
BANGALORE
YEAR-2012
Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences
2
DECLARATION BY THE CANDIDATE
I hereby declare that the entire work in this dissertation ldquoUTILITY OF SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE IN PREDICTING MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY A
PROSPECTIVE STUDYrdquo is a bonafide and genuine work carried out by me under the direct
guidance of Dr M R SREEVATHSA Professor Department of General Surgery at M S Ramaiah
Medical College Bangalore
This dissertation or any part thereof has not been submitted by me to any other university for
award of any degree or diploma
Date DR HARSHA A H
Place Bangalore MS RAMAIAH MEDICAL
COLLEGE BANGALORE
3
CERTIFICATE BY THE GUIDE
This is to certify that this dissertation entitled ldquoUTILITY OF SURGICAL APGAR
SCORE IN PREDICTING MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY A PROSPECTIVE
STUDYrdquo Is a bonafide research work done by Dr HARSHA A H under my direct guidance and
supervision in the Department of General Surgery M S Ramaiah Medical College Bangalore in partial
fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of MS (General Surgery) during the academic year 2012
Date Dr M R SREEVATHSA
Place Bangalore Professor and HOD
Department of General Surgery
M S Ramaiah Medical College
Bangalore
4
ENDORSEMENT BY THE HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT
This is to certify that this dissertation entitled ldquoUTILITY OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN
PREDICTING MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY A PROSPECTIVE STUDYrdquo Is a
bonafide research work done by Dr HARSHA A H under my overall supervision in the Department of
General Surgery M S Ramaiah Medical College Bangalore in partial fulfillment of the requirement for
the degree of MS (General Surgery) during the academic year 2012
Date Dr MRSREEVATHSA
Place Bangalore Professor and HOD
Department of General Surgery
M S Ramaiah Medical College
Bangalore
5
ENDORSEMENT BY THE PRINICIPAL
This is to certify that this dissertation entitled ldquoUTILITY OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN
PREDICTING MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY A PROSPECTIVE STUDYrdquoIs a
bonafide work done by Dr HARSHA A H under the direct guidance of Dr M R SREEVATHSA
Professor and HOD Department of General Surgery M S Ramaiah Medical College Bangalore in
partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of MS (General Surgery) during the academic year
2012
Date Principal and Dean
Place Bangalore M S Ramaiah Medical College
Bangalore
6
COPYRIGHT
DECLARATION BY THE CANDIDATE
I hereby declare that the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences Karnataka shall have the
rights to preserve use and disseminate this dissertation thesis in print or electronic format for
academic research purpose
Date
Place Bangalore Dr HARSHA A H
7
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would take this opportunity to express my indebtedness to my teacher and guide
Dr M R SREEVATHSA Professor and HOD of General Surgery for his resolute
guidance precise approach constructive criticism and meticulous supervision throughout the
course of my work and the preparation of the manuscripts that have been a major part of my
learning experience
I would like to thank all the staff members and colleagues in the department of general
surgery who have directly or indirectly helped me during the formulation of my study Lastly I
owe a lot to my parents family members and friends who have been a constant source of
support and inspiration in pursuing my dream of becoming a surgeon
DATE Dr HARSHA A H
BANGALORE
8
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the utility of surgical apgar score in predicting morbidity and 30 day
mortality in general surgical procedures and also to compare the predictability of the score in
elective and emergency surgeries for outcome
METHODS
400 patients undergoing general surgical procedures in M S Ramaiah hospitals from
September 2009 to august 2011were included in the study Necessary data was collected
Surgical Apgar score was calculated for each patient and analysis done
RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION
Age more than 40 years had higher incidence of lower surgical Apgar score and
outcome Major complications were noted in 74 of group 0-2 scores and in only 7 in group
9-10 score 30 day mortality was 50 for 0-2 and 06 for 9-10 scores A relative risk of 30
day mortality of 246 and morbidity of 121 was noted for 0-2 category Of the 297 elective
procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had major complications where as 37 of
emergency surgeries had major complications Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2
score group in elective cases and 50 in emergency cases whereas only 2 of 9-10 score
group in elective surgeries and 23 in emergency surgeries had major complications In
elective cases a 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2 25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 groups in
comparison with 9-10 was also statistically significant In emergency group all the apgar scores
had significantly higher 30 day mortality
9
CONCLUSION
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE is a simple and useful method of predicting the morbidity
and the 30 day mortality of patients undergoing general surgical procedures It is more sensitive
in predicting the outcome in emergency cases as compared to the elective cases
KEY WORDS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE MORBIDITY 30 DAY MORTALITY
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
10
CONTENTS
SL NO CONTENTS PAGE NO
1 INTRODUCTION 14
2 OBJECTIVES 20
3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 22
4 MATERIALS AND METHODS 35
5 RESULTS 43
6 DISCUSSION 56
7 CONCLUSION 63
8 SUMMARY 65
9 BIBLIOGRAPHY 68
10 ANNEXURE 75
11
LIST OF TABLES FIGURES PIE CHARTS AND BAR DIAGRAMS
SL
NO
TABLES PAGE NO
1 POSSUM PARAMETERS 30
2
DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPONENT
PARAMETERS OF THE SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
33
3
CLAVEIN CLASSIFICATION OF GRADING THE
POST OP EVENTS BASED ON THE SEVERITY OF
COMPLICATIONS
41
4 SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400 PATIENTS 44
5
AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400
PATIENTS
44
6
PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE
COMPLICATION RATES
47
7
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES 48
8
TYPES OF SURGERY AND THE COMPLICATION
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
50
9
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY 52
12
10
PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN
ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
53
11
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR ELECTIVE
SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE
54
12
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR
EMERGENCY SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
55
SL
NO
FIGURES PAGE NO
1
VARIOUS CHARACTERISTICS ON THE
POSTOPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS AND DEATH
25
2 NEW SIMPLIFIED ACUTE PHYSIOLOGY SCORE 29
13
SL
NO
BAR CHARTS AND PIE DIAGRAMS PAGE NO
1 SEX DISTRIBUTION 44
2 AGE DISTRIBUTION 44
3
PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR GROUP
45
4
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
48
5
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
51
14
INTRODUCTION
15
INTRODUCTION
Hospitals and surgical teams strive to provide a consistently low incidence of major
complications for patients undergoing any given operation The prediction of complications is
an essential part of risk management in surgical practice Recognizing patients at high risk of
developing a complication will contribute substantially to the quality of operation and of cost
reduction in surgery Marked variability of postoperative outcomes is usually found due to
differences in patientrsquos preoperative risk factors1
An ideal model to predict complication in surgical patients should be simple and readily
applicable to all patients when operated While developing a predictive model for complications
in surgical patients an accurate estimate of the incidence of these complications is needed
Therefore a proper definition of a complication with a low detection threshold is necessary
However the intraoperative variable response of the body in terms of vital parameters
such as heart rate blood pressure arterial saturation and tissue perfusion to the surgical stress
further contributes to variability in patientsrsquo risk of developing complications1
With the evolution of better monitoring techniques and well equipped laboratories
newer general and specialized surgical scoring systems have emerged as follows-
General SAPS II APACHE II MODS (Multiple Organ Dysfunction Score)
TRIOS (Three days Recalibrated ICU Outcome Score) etc
Specialized Surgical
POSSUM (Physiologic and Operative Severity Score for the enumeration of Mortality
and Morbidity)
16
MPM for cancer patients
Glasgow Coma Score for neurosurgical patients
NSQIP etc
However they are not easily calculated at the bedside Entering numerous data elements
which include patient characteristics and lab data that are not uniformly collected making them
more vulnerable for errors thus losing reproducibility among various multidisciplinary teams
involved in patients care
Prevailing methods of surgical quality assessment such as the American College of
Surgeonsrsquo National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP)2ndash4
evaluate surgical
performance indirectly ie by assessing the multiple preoperative risk factors and in addition
attributes disparities between observed and expected complication rates to the treatment
provided
For example in Surgeries for Small Bowel Obstruction Preoperative factors predictive
of postoperative morbidity includes history of CHF cerebrovascular accident with neurologic
deficit history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease WBC lt4500mm3 functional health
status preoperative creatinine gt12 mgdL and advancing age (in decades) Intraoperatively
higher wound class and ASA class are also predictive of morbidity Operative factors like
simple small bowel resection in comparison to adhesiolysis alone has more incidences of
morbidity and complications 6
Preoperative factors that clearly impact the mortality rate are history of disseminated cancer
preoperative hematocrit lt38 preoperative sodium gt145 mEqL preoperative creatinine gt12
mgdL dyspnea and advancing age (in decades) The finding that elevated WBC occurs more
17
frequently in cases of adhesiolysis than in cases for bowel resection estimates the unreliable
nature of leukocytosis in differentiating inflammation and infection6
Intraoperative factors that predict mortality include advance ASA class and higher wound class
In the operating room surgeons have relied principally on ldquogut-feelingrdquo instead of their
objective assessment of the operative course for postoperative prognostication5 Such
prognostication models have rated the patients in broader categories and provide considerable
clinical guide towards patients care
Most believe that operative management contributes importantly to overall outcomes
but quantitative measurements of operative care are not available1 Among intraoperative
factors the alterations in patientrsquos condition including hypotension7 hypertension
hypothermia bradycardia89
tachycardia and blood loss10
have been independently linked with
adverse perioperative outcomes Some risk prediction methods have integrated these
intraoperative variables for early prediction of postoperative morbidity and mortality
Nevertheless a clear consensus on this most essential aspect of perioperative management of a
surgical patient has not been reached11
Hence the question of how to directly evaluate
performance and safety in the operating room still remains unanswered in surgeons mind12
To provide surgeons with a simple objective and direct method of rating a ten-point
Surgical Apgar Score was determined by Atul Gawande et al13
To derive the score more than
two dozen parameters collected in the operating room were assessed and it was discovered that
just three intraoperative variables remained independent predictors of major postoperative
complications and death They were - Lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss A score built from these three predictors has proved beyond doubt as a
18
strong predictive model for categorizing the patients at risk of major postoperative
complications and death in general and vascular surgery13
As this scoring system requires data that can be collected immediately upon completion
of an operation for patients in any setting regardless of resource and technological capacity it
is the simplest available scoring system for assessing the risk
Like the obstetrical Apgar score 14
it cannot by itself assess the quality of care as its
three variables are influenced not only by the performance of surgical teams but also by the
patientsrsquo preoperative physiological status and the magnitude of the operations they undergo15
For the score to be a clinically useful predictor of postoperative complications each component
of it or the score as a whole should contribute to predict surgical outcome
Because of its simplicity availability in real time being immediately applicable for
clinical decision making and inexpensively collectable Apgar score is therefore a powerful tool
for early recognition of complications Such an early predictability would thereby improve
safety in surgery Despite concordance between preoperative factors and measurement
intraoperative factors after accounting for preoperative risk the Surgical Apgar Score remains a
significant predictor of postoperative complications Because the feedback is almost immediate
this would help the surgical team in categorizing the patients in need of more and intense
postoperative monitoring and care from those who pass an uncomplicated course
It would act as a mode of communication between the surgeons residents nursing staff
about the immediate postoperative status and thereby assist decision making about for example
planned admission after an OPD proceduredaycare procedure admission to ICU or also the
frequency of post op visits to the surgeon Even in those with low surgical apgar scores but
uncomplicated outcome it would enable an early identification of problems as such patients are
19
subjected to routine clinical surveillance and repeated reviews Reliance on anesthesiologistrsquos
unbiased estimation further upgrades the reliability insulating against surgeonrsquos bias16
In this study we will evaluate the predictive ability of the surgical apgar score in general
and vascular surgery
20
OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
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from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
2
DECLARATION BY THE CANDIDATE
I hereby declare that the entire work in this dissertation ldquoUTILITY OF SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE IN PREDICTING MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY A
PROSPECTIVE STUDYrdquo is a bonafide and genuine work carried out by me under the direct
guidance of Dr M R SREEVATHSA Professor Department of General Surgery at M S Ramaiah
Medical College Bangalore
This dissertation or any part thereof has not been submitted by me to any other university for
award of any degree or diploma
Date DR HARSHA A H
Place Bangalore MS RAMAIAH MEDICAL
COLLEGE BANGALORE
3
CERTIFICATE BY THE GUIDE
This is to certify that this dissertation entitled ldquoUTILITY OF SURGICAL APGAR
SCORE IN PREDICTING MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY A PROSPECTIVE
STUDYrdquo Is a bonafide research work done by Dr HARSHA A H under my direct guidance and
supervision in the Department of General Surgery M S Ramaiah Medical College Bangalore in partial
fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of MS (General Surgery) during the academic year 2012
Date Dr M R SREEVATHSA
Place Bangalore Professor and HOD
Department of General Surgery
M S Ramaiah Medical College
Bangalore
4
ENDORSEMENT BY THE HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT
This is to certify that this dissertation entitled ldquoUTILITY OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN
PREDICTING MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY A PROSPECTIVE STUDYrdquo Is a
bonafide research work done by Dr HARSHA A H under my overall supervision in the Department of
General Surgery M S Ramaiah Medical College Bangalore in partial fulfillment of the requirement for
the degree of MS (General Surgery) during the academic year 2012
Date Dr MRSREEVATHSA
Place Bangalore Professor and HOD
Department of General Surgery
M S Ramaiah Medical College
Bangalore
5
ENDORSEMENT BY THE PRINICIPAL
This is to certify that this dissertation entitled ldquoUTILITY OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN
PREDICTING MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY A PROSPECTIVE STUDYrdquoIs a
bonafide work done by Dr HARSHA A H under the direct guidance of Dr M R SREEVATHSA
Professor and HOD Department of General Surgery M S Ramaiah Medical College Bangalore in
partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of MS (General Surgery) during the academic year
2012
Date Principal and Dean
Place Bangalore M S Ramaiah Medical College
Bangalore
6
COPYRIGHT
DECLARATION BY THE CANDIDATE
I hereby declare that the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences Karnataka shall have the
rights to preserve use and disseminate this dissertation thesis in print or electronic format for
academic research purpose
Date
Place Bangalore Dr HARSHA A H
7
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would take this opportunity to express my indebtedness to my teacher and guide
Dr M R SREEVATHSA Professor and HOD of General Surgery for his resolute
guidance precise approach constructive criticism and meticulous supervision throughout the
course of my work and the preparation of the manuscripts that have been a major part of my
learning experience
I would like to thank all the staff members and colleagues in the department of general
surgery who have directly or indirectly helped me during the formulation of my study Lastly I
owe a lot to my parents family members and friends who have been a constant source of
support and inspiration in pursuing my dream of becoming a surgeon
DATE Dr HARSHA A H
BANGALORE
8
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the utility of surgical apgar score in predicting morbidity and 30 day
mortality in general surgical procedures and also to compare the predictability of the score in
elective and emergency surgeries for outcome
METHODS
400 patients undergoing general surgical procedures in M S Ramaiah hospitals from
September 2009 to august 2011were included in the study Necessary data was collected
Surgical Apgar score was calculated for each patient and analysis done
RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION
Age more than 40 years had higher incidence of lower surgical Apgar score and
outcome Major complications were noted in 74 of group 0-2 scores and in only 7 in group
9-10 score 30 day mortality was 50 for 0-2 and 06 for 9-10 scores A relative risk of 30
day mortality of 246 and morbidity of 121 was noted for 0-2 category Of the 297 elective
procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had major complications where as 37 of
emergency surgeries had major complications Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2
score group in elective cases and 50 in emergency cases whereas only 2 of 9-10 score
group in elective surgeries and 23 in emergency surgeries had major complications In
elective cases a 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2 25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 groups in
comparison with 9-10 was also statistically significant In emergency group all the apgar scores
had significantly higher 30 day mortality
9
CONCLUSION
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE is a simple and useful method of predicting the morbidity
and the 30 day mortality of patients undergoing general surgical procedures It is more sensitive
in predicting the outcome in emergency cases as compared to the elective cases
KEY WORDS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE MORBIDITY 30 DAY MORTALITY
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
10
CONTENTS
SL NO CONTENTS PAGE NO
1 INTRODUCTION 14
2 OBJECTIVES 20
3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 22
4 MATERIALS AND METHODS 35
5 RESULTS 43
6 DISCUSSION 56
7 CONCLUSION 63
8 SUMMARY 65
9 BIBLIOGRAPHY 68
10 ANNEXURE 75
11
LIST OF TABLES FIGURES PIE CHARTS AND BAR DIAGRAMS
SL
NO
TABLES PAGE NO
1 POSSUM PARAMETERS 30
2
DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPONENT
PARAMETERS OF THE SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
33
3
CLAVEIN CLASSIFICATION OF GRADING THE
POST OP EVENTS BASED ON THE SEVERITY OF
COMPLICATIONS
41
4 SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400 PATIENTS 44
5
AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400
PATIENTS
44
6
PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE
COMPLICATION RATES
47
7
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES 48
8
TYPES OF SURGERY AND THE COMPLICATION
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
50
9
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY 52
12
10
PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN
ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
53
11
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR ELECTIVE
SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE
54
12
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR
EMERGENCY SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
55
SL
NO
FIGURES PAGE NO
1
VARIOUS CHARACTERISTICS ON THE
POSTOPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS AND DEATH
25
2 NEW SIMPLIFIED ACUTE PHYSIOLOGY SCORE 29
13
SL
NO
BAR CHARTS AND PIE DIAGRAMS PAGE NO
1 SEX DISTRIBUTION 44
2 AGE DISTRIBUTION 44
3
PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR GROUP
45
4
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
48
5
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
51
14
INTRODUCTION
15
INTRODUCTION
Hospitals and surgical teams strive to provide a consistently low incidence of major
complications for patients undergoing any given operation The prediction of complications is
an essential part of risk management in surgical practice Recognizing patients at high risk of
developing a complication will contribute substantially to the quality of operation and of cost
reduction in surgery Marked variability of postoperative outcomes is usually found due to
differences in patientrsquos preoperative risk factors1
An ideal model to predict complication in surgical patients should be simple and readily
applicable to all patients when operated While developing a predictive model for complications
in surgical patients an accurate estimate of the incidence of these complications is needed
Therefore a proper definition of a complication with a low detection threshold is necessary
However the intraoperative variable response of the body in terms of vital parameters
such as heart rate blood pressure arterial saturation and tissue perfusion to the surgical stress
further contributes to variability in patientsrsquo risk of developing complications1
With the evolution of better monitoring techniques and well equipped laboratories
newer general and specialized surgical scoring systems have emerged as follows-
General SAPS II APACHE II MODS (Multiple Organ Dysfunction Score)
TRIOS (Three days Recalibrated ICU Outcome Score) etc
Specialized Surgical
POSSUM (Physiologic and Operative Severity Score for the enumeration of Mortality
and Morbidity)
16
MPM for cancer patients
Glasgow Coma Score for neurosurgical patients
NSQIP etc
However they are not easily calculated at the bedside Entering numerous data elements
which include patient characteristics and lab data that are not uniformly collected making them
more vulnerable for errors thus losing reproducibility among various multidisciplinary teams
involved in patients care
Prevailing methods of surgical quality assessment such as the American College of
Surgeonsrsquo National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP)2ndash4
evaluate surgical
performance indirectly ie by assessing the multiple preoperative risk factors and in addition
attributes disparities between observed and expected complication rates to the treatment
provided
For example in Surgeries for Small Bowel Obstruction Preoperative factors predictive
of postoperative morbidity includes history of CHF cerebrovascular accident with neurologic
deficit history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease WBC lt4500mm3 functional health
status preoperative creatinine gt12 mgdL and advancing age (in decades) Intraoperatively
higher wound class and ASA class are also predictive of morbidity Operative factors like
simple small bowel resection in comparison to adhesiolysis alone has more incidences of
morbidity and complications 6
Preoperative factors that clearly impact the mortality rate are history of disseminated cancer
preoperative hematocrit lt38 preoperative sodium gt145 mEqL preoperative creatinine gt12
mgdL dyspnea and advancing age (in decades) The finding that elevated WBC occurs more
17
frequently in cases of adhesiolysis than in cases for bowel resection estimates the unreliable
nature of leukocytosis in differentiating inflammation and infection6
Intraoperative factors that predict mortality include advance ASA class and higher wound class
In the operating room surgeons have relied principally on ldquogut-feelingrdquo instead of their
objective assessment of the operative course for postoperative prognostication5 Such
prognostication models have rated the patients in broader categories and provide considerable
clinical guide towards patients care
Most believe that operative management contributes importantly to overall outcomes
but quantitative measurements of operative care are not available1 Among intraoperative
factors the alterations in patientrsquos condition including hypotension7 hypertension
hypothermia bradycardia89
tachycardia and blood loss10
have been independently linked with
adverse perioperative outcomes Some risk prediction methods have integrated these
intraoperative variables for early prediction of postoperative morbidity and mortality
Nevertheless a clear consensus on this most essential aspect of perioperative management of a
surgical patient has not been reached11
Hence the question of how to directly evaluate
performance and safety in the operating room still remains unanswered in surgeons mind12
To provide surgeons with a simple objective and direct method of rating a ten-point
Surgical Apgar Score was determined by Atul Gawande et al13
To derive the score more than
two dozen parameters collected in the operating room were assessed and it was discovered that
just three intraoperative variables remained independent predictors of major postoperative
complications and death They were - Lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss A score built from these three predictors has proved beyond doubt as a
18
strong predictive model for categorizing the patients at risk of major postoperative
complications and death in general and vascular surgery13
As this scoring system requires data that can be collected immediately upon completion
of an operation for patients in any setting regardless of resource and technological capacity it
is the simplest available scoring system for assessing the risk
Like the obstetrical Apgar score 14
it cannot by itself assess the quality of care as its
three variables are influenced not only by the performance of surgical teams but also by the
patientsrsquo preoperative physiological status and the magnitude of the operations they undergo15
For the score to be a clinically useful predictor of postoperative complications each component
of it or the score as a whole should contribute to predict surgical outcome
Because of its simplicity availability in real time being immediately applicable for
clinical decision making and inexpensively collectable Apgar score is therefore a powerful tool
for early recognition of complications Such an early predictability would thereby improve
safety in surgery Despite concordance between preoperative factors and measurement
intraoperative factors after accounting for preoperative risk the Surgical Apgar Score remains a
significant predictor of postoperative complications Because the feedback is almost immediate
this would help the surgical team in categorizing the patients in need of more and intense
postoperative monitoring and care from those who pass an uncomplicated course
It would act as a mode of communication between the surgeons residents nursing staff
about the immediate postoperative status and thereby assist decision making about for example
planned admission after an OPD proceduredaycare procedure admission to ICU or also the
frequency of post op visits to the surgeon Even in those with low surgical apgar scores but
uncomplicated outcome it would enable an early identification of problems as such patients are
19
subjected to routine clinical surveillance and repeated reviews Reliance on anesthesiologistrsquos
unbiased estimation further upgrades the reliability insulating against surgeonrsquos bias16
In this study we will evaluate the predictive ability of the surgical apgar score in general
and vascular surgery
20
OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
3
CERTIFICATE BY THE GUIDE
This is to certify that this dissertation entitled ldquoUTILITY OF SURGICAL APGAR
SCORE IN PREDICTING MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY A PROSPECTIVE
STUDYrdquo Is a bonafide research work done by Dr HARSHA A H under my direct guidance and
supervision in the Department of General Surgery M S Ramaiah Medical College Bangalore in partial
fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of MS (General Surgery) during the academic year 2012
Date Dr M R SREEVATHSA
Place Bangalore Professor and HOD
Department of General Surgery
M S Ramaiah Medical College
Bangalore
4
ENDORSEMENT BY THE HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT
This is to certify that this dissertation entitled ldquoUTILITY OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN
PREDICTING MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY A PROSPECTIVE STUDYrdquo Is a
bonafide research work done by Dr HARSHA A H under my overall supervision in the Department of
General Surgery M S Ramaiah Medical College Bangalore in partial fulfillment of the requirement for
the degree of MS (General Surgery) during the academic year 2012
Date Dr MRSREEVATHSA
Place Bangalore Professor and HOD
Department of General Surgery
M S Ramaiah Medical College
Bangalore
5
ENDORSEMENT BY THE PRINICIPAL
This is to certify that this dissertation entitled ldquoUTILITY OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN
PREDICTING MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY A PROSPECTIVE STUDYrdquoIs a
bonafide work done by Dr HARSHA A H under the direct guidance of Dr M R SREEVATHSA
Professor and HOD Department of General Surgery M S Ramaiah Medical College Bangalore in
partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of MS (General Surgery) during the academic year
2012
Date Principal and Dean
Place Bangalore M S Ramaiah Medical College
Bangalore
6
COPYRIGHT
DECLARATION BY THE CANDIDATE
I hereby declare that the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences Karnataka shall have the
rights to preserve use and disseminate this dissertation thesis in print or electronic format for
academic research purpose
Date
Place Bangalore Dr HARSHA A H
7
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would take this opportunity to express my indebtedness to my teacher and guide
Dr M R SREEVATHSA Professor and HOD of General Surgery for his resolute
guidance precise approach constructive criticism and meticulous supervision throughout the
course of my work and the preparation of the manuscripts that have been a major part of my
learning experience
I would like to thank all the staff members and colleagues in the department of general
surgery who have directly or indirectly helped me during the formulation of my study Lastly I
owe a lot to my parents family members and friends who have been a constant source of
support and inspiration in pursuing my dream of becoming a surgeon
DATE Dr HARSHA A H
BANGALORE
8
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the utility of surgical apgar score in predicting morbidity and 30 day
mortality in general surgical procedures and also to compare the predictability of the score in
elective and emergency surgeries for outcome
METHODS
400 patients undergoing general surgical procedures in M S Ramaiah hospitals from
September 2009 to august 2011were included in the study Necessary data was collected
Surgical Apgar score was calculated for each patient and analysis done
RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION
Age more than 40 years had higher incidence of lower surgical Apgar score and
outcome Major complications were noted in 74 of group 0-2 scores and in only 7 in group
9-10 score 30 day mortality was 50 for 0-2 and 06 for 9-10 scores A relative risk of 30
day mortality of 246 and morbidity of 121 was noted for 0-2 category Of the 297 elective
procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had major complications where as 37 of
emergency surgeries had major complications Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2
score group in elective cases and 50 in emergency cases whereas only 2 of 9-10 score
group in elective surgeries and 23 in emergency surgeries had major complications In
elective cases a 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2 25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 groups in
comparison with 9-10 was also statistically significant In emergency group all the apgar scores
had significantly higher 30 day mortality
9
CONCLUSION
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE is a simple and useful method of predicting the morbidity
and the 30 day mortality of patients undergoing general surgical procedures It is more sensitive
in predicting the outcome in emergency cases as compared to the elective cases
KEY WORDS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE MORBIDITY 30 DAY MORTALITY
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
10
CONTENTS
SL NO CONTENTS PAGE NO
1 INTRODUCTION 14
2 OBJECTIVES 20
3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 22
4 MATERIALS AND METHODS 35
5 RESULTS 43
6 DISCUSSION 56
7 CONCLUSION 63
8 SUMMARY 65
9 BIBLIOGRAPHY 68
10 ANNEXURE 75
11
LIST OF TABLES FIGURES PIE CHARTS AND BAR DIAGRAMS
SL
NO
TABLES PAGE NO
1 POSSUM PARAMETERS 30
2
DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPONENT
PARAMETERS OF THE SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
33
3
CLAVEIN CLASSIFICATION OF GRADING THE
POST OP EVENTS BASED ON THE SEVERITY OF
COMPLICATIONS
41
4 SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400 PATIENTS 44
5
AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400
PATIENTS
44
6
PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE
COMPLICATION RATES
47
7
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES 48
8
TYPES OF SURGERY AND THE COMPLICATION
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
50
9
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY 52
12
10
PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN
ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
53
11
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR ELECTIVE
SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE
54
12
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR
EMERGENCY SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
55
SL
NO
FIGURES PAGE NO
1
VARIOUS CHARACTERISTICS ON THE
POSTOPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS AND DEATH
25
2 NEW SIMPLIFIED ACUTE PHYSIOLOGY SCORE 29
13
SL
NO
BAR CHARTS AND PIE DIAGRAMS PAGE NO
1 SEX DISTRIBUTION 44
2 AGE DISTRIBUTION 44
3
PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR GROUP
45
4
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
48
5
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
51
14
INTRODUCTION
15
INTRODUCTION
Hospitals and surgical teams strive to provide a consistently low incidence of major
complications for patients undergoing any given operation The prediction of complications is
an essential part of risk management in surgical practice Recognizing patients at high risk of
developing a complication will contribute substantially to the quality of operation and of cost
reduction in surgery Marked variability of postoperative outcomes is usually found due to
differences in patientrsquos preoperative risk factors1
An ideal model to predict complication in surgical patients should be simple and readily
applicable to all patients when operated While developing a predictive model for complications
in surgical patients an accurate estimate of the incidence of these complications is needed
Therefore a proper definition of a complication with a low detection threshold is necessary
However the intraoperative variable response of the body in terms of vital parameters
such as heart rate blood pressure arterial saturation and tissue perfusion to the surgical stress
further contributes to variability in patientsrsquo risk of developing complications1
With the evolution of better monitoring techniques and well equipped laboratories
newer general and specialized surgical scoring systems have emerged as follows-
General SAPS II APACHE II MODS (Multiple Organ Dysfunction Score)
TRIOS (Three days Recalibrated ICU Outcome Score) etc
Specialized Surgical
POSSUM (Physiologic and Operative Severity Score for the enumeration of Mortality
and Morbidity)
16
MPM for cancer patients
Glasgow Coma Score for neurosurgical patients
NSQIP etc
However they are not easily calculated at the bedside Entering numerous data elements
which include patient characteristics and lab data that are not uniformly collected making them
more vulnerable for errors thus losing reproducibility among various multidisciplinary teams
involved in patients care
Prevailing methods of surgical quality assessment such as the American College of
Surgeonsrsquo National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP)2ndash4
evaluate surgical
performance indirectly ie by assessing the multiple preoperative risk factors and in addition
attributes disparities between observed and expected complication rates to the treatment
provided
For example in Surgeries for Small Bowel Obstruction Preoperative factors predictive
of postoperative morbidity includes history of CHF cerebrovascular accident with neurologic
deficit history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease WBC lt4500mm3 functional health
status preoperative creatinine gt12 mgdL and advancing age (in decades) Intraoperatively
higher wound class and ASA class are also predictive of morbidity Operative factors like
simple small bowel resection in comparison to adhesiolysis alone has more incidences of
morbidity and complications 6
Preoperative factors that clearly impact the mortality rate are history of disseminated cancer
preoperative hematocrit lt38 preoperative sodium gt145 mEqL preoperative creatinine gt12
mgdL dyspnea and advancing age (in decades) The finding that elevated WBC occurs more
17
frequently in cases of adhesiolysis than in cases for bowel resection estimates the unreliable
nature of leukocytosis in differentiating inflammation and infection6
Intraoperative factors that predict mortality include advance ASA class and higher wound class
In the operating room surgeons have relied principally on ldquogut-feelingrdquo instead of their
objective assessment of the operative course for postoperative prognostication5 Such
prognostication models have rated the patients in broader categories and provide considerable
clinical guide towards patients care
Most believe that operative management contributes importantly to overall outcomes
but quantitative measurements of operative care are not available1 Among intraoperative
factors the alterations in patientrsquos condition including hypotension7 hypertension
hypothermia bradycardia89
tachycardia and blood loss10
have been independently linked with
adverse perioperative outcomes Some risk prediction methods have integrated these
intraoperative variables for early prediction of postoperative morbidity and mortality
Nevertheless a clear consensus on this most essential aspect of perioperative management of a
surgical patient has not been reached11
Hence the question of how to directly evaluate
performance and safety in the operating room still remains unanswered in surgeons mind12
To provide surgeons with a simple objective and direct method of rating a ten-point
Surgical Apgar Score was determined by Atul Gawande et al13
To derive the score more than
two dozen parameters collected in the operating room were assessed and it was discovered that
just three intraoperative variables remained independent predictors of major postoperative
complications and death They were - Lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss A score built from these three predictors has proved beyond doubt as a
18
strong predictive model for categorizing the patients at risk of major postoperative
complications and death in general and vascular surgery13
As this scoring system requires data that can be collected immediately upon completion
of an operation for patients in any setting regardless of resource and technological capacity it
is the simplest available scoring system for assessing the risk
Like the obstetrical Apgar score 14
it cannot by itself assess the quality of care as its
three variables are influenced not only by the performance of surgical teams but also by the
patientsrsquo preoperative physiological status and the magnitude of the operations they undergo15
For the score to be a clinically useful predictor of postoperative complications each component
of it or the score as a whole should contribute to predict surgical outcome
Because of its simplicity availability in real time being immediately applicable for
clinical decision making and inexpensively collectable Apgar score is therefore a powerful tool
for early recognition of complications Such an early predictability would thereby improve
safety in surgery Despite concordance between preoperative factors and measurement
intraoperative factors after accounting for preoperative risk the Surgical Apgar Score remains a
significant predictor of postoperative complications Because the feedback is almost immediate
this would help the surgical team in categorizing the patients in need of more and intense
postoperative monitoring and care from those who pass an uncomplicated course
It would act as a mode of communication between the surgeons residents nursing staff
about the immediate postoperative status and thereby assist decision making about for example
planned admission after an OPD proceduredaycare procedure admission to ICU or also the
frequency of post op visits to the surgeon Even in those with low surgical apgar scores but
uncomplicated outcome it would enable an early identification of problems as such patients are
19
subjected to routine clinical surveillance and repeated reviews Reliance on anesthesiologistrsquos
unbiased estimation further upgrades the reliability insulating against surgeonrsquos bias16
In this study we will evaluate the predictive ability of the surgical apgar score in general
and vascular surgery
20
OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
4
ENDORSEMENT BY THE HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT
This is to certify that this dissertation entitled ldquoUTILITY OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN
PREDICTING MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY A PROSPECTIVE STUDYrdquo Is a
bonafide research work done by Dr HARSHA A H under my overall supervision in the Department of
General Surgery M S Ramaiah Medical College Bangalore in partial fulfillment of the requirement for
the degree of MS (General Surgery) during the academic year 2012
Date Dr MRSREEVATHSA
Place Bangalore Professor and HOD
Department of General Surgery
M S Ramaiah Medical College
Bangalore
5
ENDORSEMENT BY THE PRINICIPAL
This is to certify that this dissertation entitled ldquoUTILITY OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN
PREDICTING MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY A PROSPECTIVE STUDYrdquoIs a
bonafide work done by Dr HARSHA A H under the direct guidance of Dr M R SREEVATHSA
Professor and HOD Department of General Surgery M S Ramaiah Medical College Bangalore in
partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of MS (General Surgery) during the academic year
2012
Date Principal and Dean
Place Bangalore M S Ramaiah Medical College
Bangalore
6
COPYRIGHT
DECLARATION BY THE CANDIDATE
I hereby declare that the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences Karnataka shall have the
rights to preserve use and disseminate this dissertation thesis in print or electronic format for
academic research purpose
Date
Place Bangalore Dr HARSHA A H
7
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would take this opportunity to express my indebtedness to my teacher and guide
Dr M R SREEVATHSA Professor and HOD of General Surgery for his resolute
guidance precise approach constructive criticism and meticulous supervision throughout the
course of my work and the preparation of the manuscripts that have been a major part of my
learning experience
I would like to thank all the staff members and colleagues in the department of general
surgery who have directly or indirectly helped me during the formulation of my study Lastly I
owe a lot to my parents family members and friends who have been a constant source of
support and inspiration in pursuing my dream of becoming a surgeon
DATE Dr HARSHA A H
BANGALORE
8
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the utility of surgical apgar score in predicting morbidity and 30 day
mortality in general surgical procedures and also to compare the predictability of the score in
elective and emergency surgeries for outcome
METHODS
400 patients undergoing general surgical procedures in M S Ramaiah hospitals from
September 2009 to august 2011were included in the study Necessary data was collected
Surgical Apgar score was calculated for each patient and analysis done
RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION
Age more than 40 years had higher incidence of lower surgical Apgar score and
outcome Major complications were noted in 74 of group 0-2 scores and in only 7 in group
9-10 score 30 day mortality was 50 for 0-2 and 06 for 9-10 scores A relative risk of 30
day mortality of 246 and morbidity of 121 was noted for 0-2 category Of the 297 elective
procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had major complications where as 37 of
emergency surgeries had major complications Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2
score group in elective cases and 50 in emergency cases whereas only 2 of 9-10 score
group in elective surgeries and 23 in emergency surgeries had major complications In
elective cases a 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2 25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 groups in
comparison with 9-10 was also statistically significant In emergency group all the apgar scores
had significantly higher 30 day mortality
9
CONCLUSION
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE is a simple and useful method of predicting the morbidity
and the 30 day mortality of patients undergoing general surgical procedures It is more sensitive
in predicting the outcome in emergency cases as compared to the elective cases
KEY WORDS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE MORBIDITY 30 DAY MORTALITY
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
10
CONTENTS
SL NO CONTENTS PAGE NO
1 INTRODUCTION 14
2 OBJECTIVES 20
3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 22
4 MATERIALS AND METHODS 35
5 RESULTS 43
6 DISCUSSION 56
7 CONCLUSION 63
8 SUMMARY 65
9 BIBLIOGRAPHY 68
10 ANNEXURE 75
11
LIST OF TABLES FIGURES PIE CHARTS AND BAR DIAGRAMS
SL
NO
TABLES PAGE NO
1 POSSUM PARAMETERS 30
2
DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPONENT
PARAMETERS OF THE SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
33
3
CLAVEIN CLASSIFICATION OF GRADING THE
POST OP EVENTS BASED ON THE SEVERITY OF
COMPLICATIONS
41
4 SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400 PATIENTS 44
5
AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400
PATIENTS
44
6
PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE
COMPLICATION RATES
47
7
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES 48
8
TYPES OF SURGERY AND THE COMPLICATION
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
50
9
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY 52
12
10
PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN
ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
53
11
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR ELECTIVE
SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE
54
12
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR
EMERGENCY SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
55
SL
NO
FIGURES PAGE NO
1
VARIOUS CHARACTERISTICS ON THE
POSTOPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS AND DEATH
25
2 NEW SIMPLIFIED ACUTE PHYSIOLOGY SCORE 29
13
SL
NO
BAR CHARTS AND PIE DIAGRAMS PAGE NO
1 SEX DISTRIBUTION 44
2 AGE DISTRIBUTION 44
3
PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR GROUP
45
4
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
48
5
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
51
14
INTRODUCTION
15
INTRODUCTION
Hospitals and surgical teams strive to provide a consistently low incidence of major
complications for patients undergoing any given operation The prediction of complications is
an essential part of risk management in surgical practice Recognizing patients at high risk of
developing a complication will contribute substantially to the quality of operation and of cost
reduction in surgery Marked variability of postoperative outcomes is usually found due to
differences in patientrsquos preoperative risk factors1
An ideal model to predict complication in surgical patients should be simple and readily
applicable to all patients when operated While developing a predictive model for complications
in surgical patients an accurate estimate of the incidence of these complications is needed
Therefore a proper definition of a complication with a low detection threshold is necessary
However the intraoperative variable response of the body in terms of vital parameters
such as heart rate blood pressure arterial saturation and tissue perfusion to the surgical stress
further contributes to variability in patientsrsquo risk of developing complications1
With the evolution of better monitoring techniques and well equipped laboratories
newer general and specialized surgical scoring systems have emerged as follows-
General SAPS II APACHE II MODS (Multiple Organ Dysfunction Score)
TRIOS (Three days Recalibrated ICU Outcome Score) etc
Specialized Surgical
POSSUM (Physiologic and Operative Severity Score for the enumeration of Mortality
and Morbidity)
16
MPM for cancer patients
Glasgow Coma Score for neurosurgical patients
NSQIP etc
However they are not easily calculated at the bedside Entering numerous data elements
which include patient characteristics and lab data that are not uniformly collected making them
more vulnerable for errors thus losing reproducibility among various multidisciplinary teams
involved in patients care
Prevailing methods of surgical quality assessment such as the American College of
Surgeonsrsquo National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP)2ndash4
evaluate surgical
performance indirectly ie by assessing the multiple preoperative risk factors and in addition
attributes disparities between observed and expected complication rates to the treatment
provided
For example in Surgeries for Small Bowel Obstruction Preoperative factors predictive
of postoperative morbidity includes history of CHF cerebrovascular accident with neurologic
deficit history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease WBC lt4500mm3 functional health
status preoperative creatinine gt12 mgdL and advancing age (in decades) Intraoperatively
higher wound class and ASA class are also predictive of morbidity Operative factors like
simple small bowel resection in comparison to adhesiolysis alone has more incidences of
morbidity and complications 6
Preoperative factors that clearly impact the mortality rate are history of disseminated cancer
preoperative hematocrit lt38 preoperative sodium gt145 mEqL preoperative creatinine gt12
mgdL dyspnea and advancing age (in decades) The finding that elevated WBC occurs more
17
frequently in cases of adhesiolysis than in cases for bowel resection estimates the unreliable
nature of leukocytosis in differentiating inflammation and infection6
Intraoperative factors that predict mortality include advance ASA class and higher wound class
In the operating room surgeons have relied principally on ldquogut-feelingrdquo instead of their
objective assessment of the operative course for postoperative prognostication5 Such
prognostication models have rated the patients in broader categories and provide considerable
clinical guide towards patients care
Most believe that operative management contributes importantly to overall outcomes
but quantitative measurements of operative care are not available1 Among intraoperative
factors the alterations in patientrsquos condition including hypotension7 hypertension
hypothermia bradycardia89
tachycardia and blood loss10
have been independently linked with
adverse perioperative outcomes Some risk prediction methods have integrated these
intraoperative variables for early prediction of postoperative morbidity and mortality
Nevertheless a clear consensus on this most essential aspect of perioperative management of a
surgical patient has not been reached11
Hence the question of how to directly evaluate
performance and safety in the operating room still remains unanswered in surgeons mind12
To provide surgeons with a simple objective and direct method of rating a ten-point
Surgical Apgar Score was determined by Atul Gawande et al13
To derive the score more than
two dozen parameters collected in the operating room were assessed and it was discovered that
just three intraoperative variables remained independent predictors of major postoperative
complications and death They were - Lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss A score built from these three predictors has proved beyond doubt as a
18
strong predictive model for categorizing the patients at risk of major postoperative
complications and death in general and vascular surgery13
As this scoring system requires data that can be collected immediately upon completion
of an operation for patients in any setting regardless of resource and technological capacity it
is the simplest available scoring system for assessing the risk
Like the obstetrical Apgar score 14
it cannot by itself assess the quality of care as its
three variables are influenced not only by the performance of surgical teams but also by the
patientsrsquo preoperative physiological status and the magnitude of the operations they undergo15
For the score to be a clinically useful predictor of postoperative complications each component
of it or the score as a whole should contribute to predict surgical outcome
Because of its simplicity availability in real time being immediately applicable for
clinical decision making and inexpensively collectable Apgar score is therefore a powerful tool
for early recognition of complications Such an early predictability would thereby improve
safety in surgery Despite concordance between preoperative factors and measurement
intraoperative factors after accounting for preoperative risk the Surgical Apgar Score remains a
significant predictor of postoperative complications Because the feedback is almost immediate
this would help the surgical team in categorizing the patients in need of more and intense
postoperative monitoring and care from those who pass an uncomplicated course
It would act as a mode of communication between the surgeons residents nursing staff
about the immediate postoperative status and thereby assist decision making about for example
planned admission after an OPD proceduredaycare procedure admission to ICU or also the
frequency of post op visits to the surgeon Even in those with low surgical apgar scores but
uncomplicated outcome it would enable an early identification of problems as such patients are
19
subjected to routine clinical surveillance and repeated reviews Reliance on anesthesiologistrsquos
unbiased estimation further upgrades the reliability insulating against surgeonrsquos bias16
In this study we will evaluate the predictive ability of the surgical apgar score in general
and vascular surgery
20
OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
5
ENDORSEMENT BY THE PRINICIPAL
This is to certify that this dissertation entitled ldquoUTILITY OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN
PREDICTING MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY A PROSPECTIVE STUDYrdquoIs a
bonafide work done by Dr HARSHA A H under the direct guidance of Dr M R SREEVATHSA
Professor and HOD Department of General Surgery M S Ramaiah Medical College Bangalore in
partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of MS (General Surgery) during the academic year
2012
Date Principal and Dean
Place Bangalore M S Ramaiah Medical College
Bangalore
6
COPYRIGHT
DECLARATION BY THE CANDIDATE
I hereby declare that the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences Karnataka shall have the
rights to preserve use and disseminate this dissertation thesis in print or electronic format for
academic research purpose
Date
Place Bangalore Dr HARSHA A H
7
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would take this opportunity to express my indebtedness to my teacher and guide
Dr M R SREEVATHSA Professor and HOD of General Surgery for his resolute
guidance precise approach constructive criticism and meticulous supervision throughout the
course of my work and the preparation of the manuscripts that have been a major part of my
learning experience
I would like to thank all the staff members and colleagues in the department of general
surgery who have directly or indirectly helped me during the formulation of my study Lastly I
owe a lot to my parents family members and friends who have been a constant source of
support and inspiration in pursuing my dream of becoming a surgeon
DATE Dr HARSHA A H
BANGALORE
8
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the utility of surgical apgar score in predicting morbidity and 30 day
mortality in general surgical procedures and also to compare the predictability of the score in
elective and emergency surgeries for outcome
METHODS
400 patients undergoing general surgical procedures in M S Ramaiah hospitals from
September 2009 to august 2011were included in the study Necessary data was collected
Surgical Apgar score was calculated for each patient and analysis done
RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION
Age more than 40 years had higher incidence of lower surgical Apgar score and
outcome Major complications were noted in 74 of group 0-2 scores and in only 7 in group
9-10 score 30 day mortality was 50 for 0-2 and 06 for 9-10 scores A relative risk of 30
day mortality of 246 and morbidity of 121 was noted for 0-2 category Of the 297 elective
procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had major complications where as 37 of
emergency surgeries had major complications Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2
score group in elective cases and 50 in emergency cases whereas only 2 of 9-10 score
group in elective surgeries and 23 in emergency surgeries had major complications In
elective cases a 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2 25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 groups in
comparison with 9-10 was also statistically significant In emergency group all the apgar scores
had significantly higher 30 day mortality
9
CONCLUSION
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE is a simple and useful method of predicting the morbidity
and the 30 day mortality of patients undergoing general surgical procedures It is more sensitive
in predicting the outcome in emergency cases as compared to the elective cases
KEY WORDS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE MORBIDITY 30 DAY MORTALITY
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
10
CONTENTS
SL NO CONTENTS PAGE NO
1 INTRODUCTION 14
2 OBJECTIVES 20
3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 22
4 MATERIALS AND METHODS 35
5 RESULTS 43
6 DISCUSSION 56
7 CONCLUSION 63
8 SUMMARY 65
9 BIBLIOGRAPHY 68
10 ANNEXURE 75
11
LIST OF TABLES FIGURES PIE CHARTS AND BAR DIAGRAMS
SL
NO
TABLES PAGE NO
1 POSSUM PARAMETERS 30
2
DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPONENT
PARAMETERS OF THE SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
33
3
CLAVEIN CLASSIFICATION OF GRADING THE
POST OP EVENTS BASED ON THE SEVERITY OF
COMPLICATIONS
41
4 SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400 PATIENTS 44
5
AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400
PATIENTS
44
6
PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE
COMPLICATION RATES
47
7
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES 48
8
TYPES OF SURGERY AND THE COMPLICATION
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
50
9
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY 52
12
10
PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN
ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
53
11
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR ELECTIVE
SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE
54
12
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR
EMERGENCY SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
55
SL
NO
FIGURES PAGE NO
1
VARIOUS CHARACTERISTICS ON THE
POSTOPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS AND DEATH
25
2 NEW SIMPLIFIED ACUTE PHYSIOLOGY SCORE 29
13
SL
NO
BAR CHARTS AND PIE DIAGRAMS PAGE NO
1 SEX DISTRIBUTION 44
2 AGE DISTRIBUTION 44
3
PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR GROUP
45
4
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
48
5
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
51
14
INTRODUCTION
15
INTRODUCTION
Hospitals and surgical teams strive to provide a consistently low incidence of major
complications for patients undergoing any given operation The prediction of complications is
an essential part of risk management in surgical practice Recognizing patients at high risk of
developing a complication will contribute substantially to the quality of operation and of cost
reduction in surgery Marked variability of postoperative outcomes is usually found due to
differences in patientrsquos preoperative risk factors1
An ideal model to predict complication in surgical patients should be simple and readily
applicable to all patients when operated While developing a predictive model for complications
in surgical patients an accurate estimate of the incidence of these complications is needed
Therefore a proper definition of a complication with a low detection threshold is necessary
However the intraoperative variable response of the body in terms of vital parameters
such as heart rate blood pressure arterial saturation and tissue perfusion to the surgical stress
further contributes to variability in patientsrsquo risk of developing complications1
With the evolution of better monitoring techniques and well equipped laboratories
newer general and specialized surgical scoring systems have emerged as follows-
General SAPS II APACHE II MODS (Multiple Organ Dysfunction Score)
TRIOS (Three days Recalibrated ICU Outcome Score) etc
Specialized Surgical
POSSUM (Physiologic and Operative Severity Score for the enumeration of Mortality
and Morbidity)
16
MPM for cancer patients
Glasgow Coma Score for neurosurgical patients
NSQIP etc
However they are not easily calculated at the bedside Entering numerous data elements
which include patient characteristics and lab data that are not uniformly collected making them
more vulnerable for errors thus losing reproducibility among various multidisciplinary teams
involved in patients care
Prevailing methods of surgical quality assessment such as the American College of
Surgeonsrsquo National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP)2ndash4
evaluate surgical
performance indirectly ie by assessing the multiple preoperative risk factors and in addition
attributes disparities between observed and expected complication rates to the treatment
provided
For example in Surgeries for Small Bowel Obstruction Preoperative factors predictive
of postoperative morbidity includes history of CHF cerebrovascular accident with neurologic
deficit history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease WBC lt4500mm3 functional health
status preoperative creatinine gt12 mgdL and advancing age (in decades) Intraoperatively
higher wound class and ASA class are also predictive of morbidity Operative factors like
simple small bowel resection in comparison to adhesiolysis alone has more incidences of
morbidity and complications 6
Preoperative factors that clearly impact the mortality rate are history of disseminated cancer
preoperative hematocrit lt38 preoperative sodium gt145 mEqL preoperative creatinine gt12
mgdL dyspnea and advancing age (in decades) The finding that elevated WBC occurs more
17
frequently in cases of adhesiolysis than in cases for bowel resection estimates the unreliable
nature of leukocytosis in differentiating inflammation and infection6
Intraoperative factors that predict mortality include advance ASA class and higher wound class
In the operating room surgeons have relied principally on ldquogut-feelingrdquo instead of their
objective assessment of the operative course for postoperative prognostication5 Such
prognostication models have rated the patients in broader categories and provide considerable
clinical guide towards patients care
Most believe that operative management contributes importantly to overall outcomes
but quantitative measurements of operative care are not available1 Among intraoperative
factors the alterations in patientrsquos condition including hypotension7 hypertension
hypothermia bradycardia89
tachycardia and blood loss10
have been independently linked with
adverse perioperative outcomes Some risk prediction methods have integrated these
intraoperative variables for early prediction of postoperative morbidity and mortality
Nevertheless a clear consensus on this most essential aspect of perioperative management of a
surgical patient has not been reached11
Hence the question of how to directly evaluate
performance and safety in the operating room still remains unanswered in surgeons mind12
To provide surgeons with a simple objective and direct method of rating a ten-point
Surgical Apgar Score was determined by Atul Gawande et al13
To derive the score more than
two dozen parameters collected in the operating room were assessed and it was discovered that
just three intraoperative variables remained independent predictors of major postoperative
complications and death They were - Lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss A score built from these three predictors has proved beyond doubt as a
18
strong predictive model for categorizing the patients at risk of major postoperative
complications and death in general and vascular surgery13
As this scoring system requires data that can be collected immediately upon completion
of an operation for patients in any setting regardless of resource and technological capacity it
is the simplest available scoring system for assessing the risk
Like the obstetrical Apgar score 14
it cannot by itself assess the quality of care as its
three variables are influenced not only by the performance of surgical teams but also by the
patientsrsquo preoperative physiological status and the magnitude of the operations they undergo15
For the score to be a clinically useful predictor of postoperative complications each component
of it or the score as a whole should contribute to predict surgical outcome
Because of its simplicity availability in real time being immediately applicable for
clinical decision making and inexpensively collectable Apgar score is therefore a powerful tool
for early recognition of complications Such an early predictability would thereby improve
safety in surgery Despite concordance between preoperative factors and measurement
intraoperative factors after accounting for preoperative risk the Surgical Apgar Score remains a
significant predictor of postoperative complications Because the feedback is almost immediate
this would help the surgical team in categorizing the patients in need of more and intense
postoperative monitoring and care from those who pass an uncomplicated course
It would act as a mode of communication between the surgeons residents nursing staff
about the immediate postoperative status and thereby assist decision making about for example
planned admission after an OPD proceduredaycare procedure admission to ICU or also the
frequency of post op visits to the surgeon Even in those with low surgical apgar scores but
uncomplicated outcome it would enable an early identification of problems as such patients are
19
subjected to routine clinical surveillance and repeated reviews Reliance on anesthesiologistrsquos
unbiased estimation further upgrades the reliability insulating against surgeonrsquos bias16
In this study we will evaluate the predictive ability of the surgical apgar score in general
and vascular surgery
20
OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
6
COPYRIGHT
DECLARATION BY THE CANDIDATE
I hereby declare that the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences Karnataka shall have the
rights to preserve use and disseminate this dissertation thesis in print or electronic format for
academic research purpose
Date
Place Bangalore Dr HARSHA A H
7
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would take this opportunity to express my indebtedness to my teacher and guide
Dr M R SREEVATHSA Professor and HOD of General Surgery for his resolute
guidance precise approach constructive criticism and meticulous supervision throughout the
course of my work and the preparation of the manuscripts that have been a major part of my
learning experience
I would like to thank all the staff members and colleagues in the department of general
surgery who have directly or indirectly helped me during the formulation of my study Lastly I
owe a lot to my parents family members and friends who have been a constant source of
support and inspiration in pursuing my dream of becoming a surgeon
DATE Dr HARSHA A H
BANGALORE
8
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the utility of surgical apgar score in predicting morbidity and 30 day
mortality in general surgical procedures and also to compare the predictability of the score in
elective and emergency surgeries for outcome
METHODS
400 patients undergoing general surgical procedures in M S Ramaiah hospitals from
September 2009 to august 2011were included in the study Necessary data was collected
Surgical Apgar score was calculated for each patient and analysis done
RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION
Age more than 40 years had higher incidence of lower surgical Apgar score and
outcome Major complications were noted in 74 of group 0-2 scores and in only 7 in group
9-10 score 30 day mortality was 50 for 0-2 and 06 for 9-10 scores A relative risk of 30
day mortality of 246 and morbidity of 121 was noted for 0-2 category Of the 297 elective
procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had major complications where as 37 of
emergency surgeries had major complications Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2
score group in elective cases and 50 in emergency cases whereas only 2 of 9-10 score
group in elective surgeries and 23 in emergency surgeries had major complications In
elective cases a 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2 25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 groups in
comparison with 9-10 was also statistically significant In emergency group all the apgar scores
had significantly higher 30 day mortality
9
CONCLUSION
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE is a simple and useful method of predicting the morbidity
and the 30 day mortality of patients undergoing general surgical procedures It is more sensitive
in predicting the outcome in emergency cases as compared to the elective cases
KEY WORDS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE MORBIDITY 30 DAY MORTALITY
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
10
CONTENTS
SL NO CONTENTS PAGE NO
1 INTRODUCTION 14
2 OBJECTIVES 20
3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 22
4 MATERIALS AND METHODS 35
5 RESULTS 43
6 DISCUSSION 56
7 CONCLUSION 63
8 SUMMARY 65
9 BIBLIOGRAPHY 68
10 ANNEXURE 75
11
LIST OF TABLES FIGURES PIE CHARTS AND BAR DIAGRAMS
SL
NO
TABLES PAGE NO
1 POSSUM PARAMETERS 30
2
DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPONENT
PARAMETERS OF THE SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
33
3
CLAVEIN CLASSIFICATION OF GRADING THE
POST OP EVENTS BASED ON THE SEVERITY OF
COMPLICATIONS
41
4 SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400 PATIENTS 44
5
AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400
PATIENTS
44
6
PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE
COMPLICATION RATES
47
7
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES 48
8
TYPES OF SURGERY AND THE COMPLICATION
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
50
9
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY 52
12
10
PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN
ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
53
11
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR ELECTIVE
SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE
54
12
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR
EMERGENCY SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
55
SL
NO
FIGURES PAGE NO
1
VARIOUS CHARACTERISTICS ON THE
POSTOPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS AND DEATH
25
2 NEW SIMPLIFIED ACUTE PHYSIOLOGY SCORE 29
13
SL
NO
BAR CHARTS AND PIE DIAGRAMS PAGE NO
1 SEX DISTRIBUTION 44
2 AGE DISTRIBUTION 44
3
PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR GROUP
45
4
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
48
5
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
51
14
INTRODUCTION
15
INTRODUCTION
Hospitals and surgical teams strive to provide a consistently low incidence of major
complications for patients undergoing any given operation The prediction of complications is
an essential part of risk management in surgical practice Recognizing patients at high risk of
developing a complication will contribute substantially to the quality of operation and of cost
reduction in surgery Marked variability of postoperative outcomes is usually found due to
differences in patientrsquos preoperative risk factors1
An ideal model to predict complication in surgical patients should be simple and readily
applicable to all patients when operated While developing a predictive model for complications
in surgical patients an accurate estimate of the incidence of these complications is needed
Therefore a proper definition of a complication with a low detection threshold is necessary
However the intraoperative variable response of the body in terms of vital parameters
such as heart rate blood pressure arterial saturation and tissue perfusion to the surgical stress
further contributes to variability in patientsrsquo risk of developing complications1
With the evolution of better monitoring techniques and well equipped laboratories
newer general and specialized surgical scoring systems have emerged as follows-
General SAPS II APACHE II MODS (Multiple Organ Dysfunction Score)
TRIOS (Three days Recalibrated ICU Outcome Score) etc
Specialized Surgical
POSSUM (Physiologic and Operative Severity Score for the enumeration of Mortality
and Morbidity)
16
MPM for cancer patients
Glasgow Coma Score for neurosurgical patients
NSQIP etc
However they are not easily calculated at the bedside Entering numerous data elements
which include patient characteristics and lab data that are not uniformly collected making them
more vulnerable for errors thus losing reproducibility among various multidisciplinary teams
involved in patients care
Prevailing methods of surgical quality assessment such as the American College of
Surgeonsrsquo National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP)2ndash4
evaluate surgical
performance indirectly ie by assessing the multiple preoperative risk factors and in addition
attributes disparities between observed and expected complication rates to the treatment
provided
For example in Surgeries for Small Bowel Obstruction Preoperative factors predictive
of postoperative morbidity includes history of CHF cerebrovascular accident with neurologic
deficit history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease WBC lt4500mm3 functional health
status preoperative creatinine gt12 mgdL and advancing age (in decades) Intraoperatively
higher wound class and ASA class are also predictive of morbidity Operative factors like
simple small bowel resection in comparison to adhesiolysis alone has more incidences of
morbidity and complications 6
Preoperative factors that clearly impact the mortality rate are history of disseminated cancer
preoperative hematocrit lt38 preoperative sodium gt145 mEqL preoperative creatinine gt12
mgdL dyspnea and advancing age (in decades) The finding that elevated WBC occurs more
17
frequently in cases of adhesiolysis than in cases for bowel resection estimates the unreliable
nature of leukocytosis in differentiating inflammation and infection6
Intraoperative factors that predict mortality include advance ASA class and higher wound class
In the operating room surgeons have relied principally on ldquogut-feelingrdquo instead of their
objective assessment of the operative course for postoperative prognostication5 Such
prognostication models have rated the patients in broader categories and provide considerable
clinical guide towards patients care
Most believe that operative management contributes importantly to overall outcomes
but quantitative measurements of operative care are not available1 Among intraoperative
factors the alterations in patientrsquos condition including hypotension7 hypertension
hypothermia bradycardia89
tachycardia and blood loss10
have been independently linked with
adverse perioperative outcomes Some risk prediction methods have integrated these
intraoperative variables for early prediction of postoperative morbidity and mortality
Nevertheless a clear consensus on this most essential aspect of perioperative management of a
surgical patient has not been reached11
Hence the question of how to directly evaluate
performance and safety in the operating room still remains unanswered in surgeons mind12
To provide surgeons with a simple objective and direct method of rating a ten-point
Surgical Apgar Score was determined by Atul Gawande et al13
To derive the score more than
two dozen parameters collected in the operating room were assessed and it was discovered that
just three intraoperative variables remained independent predictors of major postoperative
complications and death They were - Lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss A score built from these three predictors has proved beyond doubt as a
18
strong predictive model for categorizing the patients at risk of major postoperative
complications and death in general and vascular surgery13
As this scoring system requires data that can be collected immediately upon completion
of an operation for patients in any setting regardless of resource and technological capacity it
is the simplest available scoring system for assessing the risk
Like the obstetrical Apgar score 14
it cannot by itself assess the quality of care as its
three variables are influenced not only by the performance of surgical teams but also by the
patientsrsquo preoperative physiological status and the magnitude of the operations they undergo15
For the score to be a clinically useful predictor of postoperative complications each component
of it or the score as a whole should contribute to predict surgical outcome
Because of its simplicity availability in real time being immediately applicable for
clinical decision making and inexpensively collectable Apgar score is therefore a powerful tool
for early recognition of complications Such an early predictability would thereby improve
safety in surgery Despite concordance between preoperative factors and measurement
intraoperative factors after accounting for preoperative risk the Surgical Apgar Score remains a
significant predictor of postoperative complications Because the feedback is almost immediate
this would help the surgical team in categorizing the patients in need of more and intense
postoperative monitoring and care from those who pass an uncomplicated course
It would act as a mode of communication between the surgeons residents nursing staff
about the immediate postoperative status and thereby assist decision making about for example
planned admission after an OPD proceduredaycare procedure admission to ICU or also the
frequency of post op visits to the surgeon Even in those with low surgical apgar scores but
uncomplicated outcome it would enable an early identification of problems as such patients are
19
subjected to routine clinical surveillance and repeated reviews Reliance on anesthesiologistrsquos
unbiased estimation further upgrades the reliability insulating against surgeonrsquos bias16
In this study we will evaluate the predictive ability of the surgical apgar score in general
and vascular surgery
20
OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
7
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would take this opportunity to express my indebtedness to my teacher and guide
Dr M R SREEVATHSA Professor and HOD of General Surgery for his resolute
guidance precise approach constructive criticism and meticulous supervision throughout the
course of my work and the preparation of the manuscripts that have been a major part of my
learning experience
I would like to thank all the staff members and colleagues in the department of general
surgery who have directly or indirectly helped me during the formulation of my study Lastly I
owe a lot to my parents family members and friends who have been a constant source of
support and inspiration in pursuing my dream of becoming a surgeon
DATE Dr HARSHA A H
BANGALORE
8
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the utility of surgical apgar score in predicting morbidity and 30 day
mortality in general surgical procedures and also to compare the predictability of the score in
elective and emergency surgeries for outcome
METHODS
400 patients undergoing general surgical procedures in M S Ramaiah hospitals from
September 2009 to august 2011were included in the study Necessary data was collected
Surgical Apgar score was calculated for each patient and analysis done
RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION
Age more than 40 years had higher incidence of lower surgical Apgar score and
outcome Major complications were noted in 74 of group 0-2 scores and in only 7 in group
9-10 score 30 day mortality was 50 for 0-2 and 06 for 9-10 scores A relative risk of 30
day mortality of 246 and morbidity of 121 was noted for 0-2 category Of the 297 elective
procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had major complications where as 37 of
emergency surgeries had major complications Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2
score group in elective cases and 50 in emergency cases whereas only 2 of 9-10 score
group in elective surgeries and 23 in emergency surgeries had major complications In
elective cases a 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2 25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 groups in
comparison with 9-10 was also statistically significant In emergency group all the apgar scores
had significantly higher 30 day mortality
9
CONCLUSION
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE is a simple and useful method of predicting the morbidity
and the 30 day mortality of patients undergoing general surgical procedures It is more sensitive
in predicting the outcome in emergency cases as compared to the elective cases
KEY WORDS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE MORBIDITY 30 DAY MORTALITY
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
10
CONTENTS
SL NO CONTENTS PAGE NO
1 INTRODUCTION 14
2 OBJECTIVES 20
3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 22
4 MATERIALS AND METHODS 35
5 RESULTS 43
6 DISCUSSION 56
7 CONCLUSION 63
8 SUMMARY 65
9 BIBLIOGRAPHY 68
10 ANNEXURE 75
11
LIST OF TABLES FIGURES PIE CHARTS AND BAR DIAGRAMS
SL
NO
TABLES PAGE NO
1 POSSUM PARAMETERS 30
2
DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPONENT
PARAMETERS OF THE SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
33
3
CLAVEIN CLASSIFICATION OF GRADING THE
POST OP EVENTS BASED ON THE SEVERITY OF
COMPLICATIONS
41
4 SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400 PATIENTS 44
5
AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400
PATIENTS
44
6
PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE
COMPLICATION RATES
47
7
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES 48
8
TYPES OF SURGERY AND THE COMPLICATION
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
50
9
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY 52
12
10
PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN
ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
53
11
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR ELECTIVE
SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE
54
12
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR
EMERGENCY SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
55
SL
NO
FIGURES PAGE NO
1
VARIOUS CHARACTERISTICS ON THE
POSTOPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS AND DEATH
25
2 NEW SIMPLIFIED ACUTE PHYSIOLOGY SCORE 29
13
SL
NO
BAR CHARTS AND PIE DIAGRAMS PAGE NO
1 SEX DISTRIBUTION 44
2 AGE DISTRIBUTION 44
3
PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR GROUP
45
4
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
48
5
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
51
14
INTRODUCTION
15
INTRODUCTION
Hospitals and surgical teams strive to provide a consistently low incidence of major
complications for patients undergoing any given operation The prediction of complications is
an essential part of risk management in surgical practice Recognizing patients at high risk of
developing a complication will contribute substantially to the quality of operation and of cost
reduction in surgery Marked variability of postoperative outcomes is usually found due to
differences in patientrsquos preoperative risk factors1
An ideal model to predict complication in surgical patients should be simple and readily
applicable to all patients when operated While developing a predictive model for complications
in surgical patients an accurate estimate of the incidence of these complications is needed
Therefore a proper definition of a complication with a low detection threshold is necessary
However the intraoperative variable response of the body in terms of vital parameters
such as heart rate blood pressure arterial saturation and tissue perfusion to the surgical stress
further contributes to variability in patientsrsquo risk of developing complications1
With the evolution of better monitoring techniques and well equipped laboratories
newer general and specialized surgical scoring systems have emerged as follows-
General SAPS II APACHE II MODS (Multiple Organ Dysfunction Score)
TRIOS (Three days Recalibrated ICU Outcome Score) etc
Specialized Surgical
POSSUM (Physiologic and Operative Severity Score for the enumeration of Mortality
and Morbidity)
16
MPM for cancer patients
Glasgow Coma Score for neurosurgical patients
NSQIP etc
However they are not easily calculated at the bedside Entering numerous data elements
which include patient characteristics and lab data that are not uniformly collected making them
more vulnerable for errors thus losing reproducibility among various multidisciplinary teams
involved in patients care
Prevailing methods of surgical quality assessment such as the American College of
Surgeonsrsquo National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP)2ndash4
evaluate surgical
performance indirectly ie by assessing the multiple preoperative risk factors and in addition
attributes disparities between observed and expected complication rates to the treatment
provided
For example in Surgeries for Small Bowel Obstruction Preoperative factors predictive
of postoperative morbidity includes history of CHF cerebrovascular accident with neurologic
deficit history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease WBC lt4500mm3 functional health
status preoperative creatinine gt12 mgdL and advancing age (in decades) Intraoperatively
higher wound class and ASA class are also predictive of morbidity Operative factors like
simple small bowel resection in comparison to adhesiolysis alone has more incidences of
morbidity and complications 6
Preoperative factors that clearly impact the mortality rate are history of disseminated cancer
preoperative hematocrit lt38 preoperative sodium gt145 mEqL preoperative creatinine gt12
mgdL dyspnea and advancing age (in decades) The finding that elevated WBC occurs more
17
frequently in cases of adhesiolysis than in cases for bowel resection estimates the unreliable
nature of leukocytosis in differentiating inflammation and infection6
Intraoperative factors that predict mortality include advance ASA class and higher wound class
In the operating room surgeons have relied principally on ldquogut-feelingrdquo instead of their
objective assessment of the operative course for postoperative prognostication5 Such
prognostication models have rated the patients in broader categories and provide considerable
clinical guide towards patients care
Most believe that operative management contributes importantly to overall outcomes
but quantitative measurements of operative care are not available1 Among intraoperative
factors the alterations in patientrsquos condition including hypotension7 hypertension
hypothermia bradycardia89
tachycardia and blood loss10
have been independently linked with
adverse perioperative outcomes Some risk prediction methods have integrated these
intraoperative variables for early prediction of postoperative morbidity and mortality
Nevertheless a clear consensus on this most essential aspect of perioperative management of a
surgical patient has not been reached11
Hence the question of how to directly evaluate
performance and safety in the operating room still remains unanswered in surgeons mind12
To provide surgeons with a simple objective and direct method of rating a ten-point
Surgical Apgar Score was determined by Atul Gawande et al13
To derive the score more than
two dozen parameters collected in the operating room were assessed and it was discovered that
just three intraoperative variables remained independent predictors of major postoperative
complications and death They were - Lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss A score built from these three predictors has proved beyond doubt as a
18
strong predictive model for categorizing the patients at risk of major postoperative
complications and death in general and vascular surgery13
As this scoring system requires data that can be collected immediately upon completion
of an operation for patients in any setting regardless of resource and technological capacity it
is the simplest available scoring system for assessing the risk
Like the obstetrical Apgar score 14
it cannot by itself assess the quality of care as its
three variables are influenced not only by the performance of surgical teams but also by the
patientsrsquo preoperative physiological status and the magnitude of the operations they undergo15
For the score to be a clinically useful predictor of postoperative complications each component
of it or the score as a whole should contribute to predict surgical outcome
Because of its simplicity availability in real time being immediately applicable for
clinical decision making and inexpensively collectable Apgar score is therefore a powerful tool
for early recognition of complications Such an early predictability would thereby improve
safety in surgery Despite concordance between preoperative factors and measurement
intraoperative factors after accounting for preoperative risk the Surgical Apgar Score remains a
significant predictor of postoperative complications Because the feedback is almost immediate
this would help the surgical team in categorizing the patients in need of more and intense
postoperative monitoring and care from those who pass an uncomplicated course
It would act as a mode of communication between the surgeons residents nursing staff
about the immediate postoperative status and thereby assist decision making about for example
planned admission after an OPD proceduredaycare procedure admission to ICU or also the
frequency of post op visits to the surgeon Even in those with low surgical apgar scores but
uncomplicated outcome it would enable an early identification of problems as such patients are
19
subjected to routine clinical surveillance and repeated reviews Reliance on anesthesiologistrsquos
unbiased estimation further upgrades the reliability insulating against surgeonrsquos bias16
In this study we will evaluate the predictive ability of the surgical apgar score in general
and vascular surgery
20
OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
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from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
8
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the utility of surgical apgar score in predicting morbidity and 30 day
mortality in general surgical procedures and also to compare the predictability of the score in
elective and emergency surgeries for outcome
METHODS
400 patients undergoing general surgical procedures in M S Ramaiah hospitals from
September 2009 to august 2011were included in the study Necessary data was collected
Surgical Apgar score was calculated for each patient and analysis done
RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION
Age more than 40 years had higher incidence of lower surgical Apgar score and
outcome Major complications were noted in 74 of group 0-2 scores and in only 7 in group
9-10 score 30 day mortality was 50 for 0-2 and 06 for 9-10 scores A relative risk of 30
day mortality of 246 and morbidity of 121 was noted for 0-2 category Of the 297 elective
procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had major complications where as 37 of
emergency surgeries had major complications Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2
score group in elective cases and 50 in emergency cases whereas only 2 of 9-10 score
group in elective surgeries and 23 in emergency surgeries had major complications In
elective cases a 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2 25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 groups in
comparison with 9-10 was also statistically significant In emergency group all the apgar scores
had significantly higher 30 day mortality
9
CONCLUSION
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE is a simple and useful method of predicting the morbidity
and the 30 day mortality of patients undergoing general surgical procedures It is more sensitive
in predicting the outcome in emergency cases as compared to the elective cases
KEY WORDS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE MORBIDITY 30 DAY MORTALITY
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
10
CONTENTS
SL NO CONTENTS PAGE NO
1 INTRODUCTION 14
2 OBJECTIVES 20
3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 22
4 MATERIALS AND METHODS 35
5 RESULTS 43
6 DISCUSSION 56
7 CONCLUSION 63
8 SUMMARY 65
9 BIBLIOGRAPHY 68
10 ANNEXURE 75
11
LIST OF TABLES FIGURES PIE CHARTS AND BAR DIAGRAMS
SL
NO
TABLES PAGE NO
1 POSSUM PARAMETERS 30
2
DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPONENT
PARAMETERS OF THE SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
33
3
CLAVEIN CLASSIFICATION OF GRADING THE
POST OP EVENTS BASED ON THE SEVERITY OF
COMPLICATIONS
41
4 SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400 PATIENTS 44
5
AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400
PATIENTS
44
6
PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE
COMPLICATION RATES
47
7
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES 48
8
TYPES OF SURGERY AND THE COMPLICATION
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
50
9
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY 52
12
10
PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN
ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
53
11
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR ELECTIVE
SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE
54
12
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR
EMERGENCY SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
55
SL
NO
FIGURES PAGE NO
1
VARIOUS CHARACTERISTICS ON THE
POSTOPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS AND DEATH
25
2 NEW SIMPLIFIED ACUTE PHYSIOLOGY SCORE 29
13
SL
NO
BAR CHARTS AND PIE DIAGRAMS PAGE NO
1 SEX DISTRIBUTION 44
2 AGE DISTRIBUTION 44
3
PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR GROUP
45
4
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
48
5
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
51
14
INTRODUCTION
15
INTRODUCTION
Hospitals and surgical teams strive to provide a consistently low incidence of major
complications for patients undergoing any given operation The prediction of complications is
an essential part of risk management in surgical practice Recognizing patients at high risk of
developing a complication will contribute substantially to the quality of operation and of cost
reduction in surgery Marked variability of postoperative outcomes is usually found due to
differences in patientrsquos preoperative risk factors1
An ideal model to predict complication in surgical patients should be simple and readily
applicable to all patients when operated While developing a predictive model for complications
in surgical patients an accurate estimate of the incidence of these complications is needed
Therefore a proper definition of a complication with a low detection threshold is necessary
However the intraoperative variable response of the body in terms of vital parameters
such as heart rate blood pressure arterial saturation and tissue perfusion to the surgical stress
further contributes to variability in patientsrsquo risk of developing complications1
With the evolution of better monitoring techniques and well equipped laboratories
newer general and specialized surgical scoring systems have emerged as follows-
General SAPS II APACHE II MODS (Multiple Organ Dysfunction Score)
TRIOS (Three days Recalibrated ICU Outcome Score) etc
Specialized Surgical
POSSUM (Physiologic and Operative Severity Score for the enumeration of Mortality
and Morbidity)
16
MPM for cancer patients
Glasgow Coma Score for neurosurgical patients
NSQIP etc
However they are not easily calculated at the bedside Entering numerous data elements
which include patient characteristics and lab data that are not uniformly collected making them
more vulnerable for errors thus losing reproducibility among various multidisciplinary teams
involved in patients care
Prevailing methods of surgical quality assessment such as the American College of
Surgeonsrsquo National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP)2ndash4
evaluate surgical
performance indirectly ie by assessing the multiple preoperative risk factors and in addition
attributes disparities between observed and expected complication rates to the treatment
provided
For example in Surgeries for Small Bowel Obstruction Preoperative factors predictive
of postoperative morbidity includes history of CHF cerebrovascular accident with neurologic
deficit history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease WBC lt4500mm3 functional health
status preoperative creatinine gt12 mgdL and advancing age (in decades) Intraoperatively
higher wound class and ASA class are also predictive of morbidity Operative factors like
simple small bowel resection in comparison to adhesiolysis alone has more incidences of
morbidity and complications 6
Preoperative factors that clearly impact the mortality rate are history of disseminated cancer
preoperative hematocrit lt38 preoperative sodium gt145 mEqL preoperative creatinine gt12
mgdL dyspnea and advancing age (in decades) The finding that elevated WBC occurs more
17
frequently in cases of adhesiolysis than in cases for bowel resection estimates the unreliable
nature of leukocytosis in differentiating inflammation and infection6
Intraoperative factors that predict mortality include advance ASA class and higher wound class
In the operating room surgeons have relied principally on ldquogut-feelingrdquo instead of their
objective assessment of the operative course for postoperative prognostication5 Such
prognostication models have rated the patients in broader categories and provide considerable
clinical guide towards patients care
Most believe that operative management contributes importantly to overall outcomes
but quantitative measurements of operative care are not available1 Among intraoperative
factors the alterations in patientrsquos condition including hypotension7 hypertension
hypothermia bradycardia89
tachycardia and blood loss10
have been independently linked with
adverse perioperative outcomes Some risk prediction methods have integrated these
intraoperative variables for early prediction of postoperative morbidity and mortality
Nevertheless a clear consensus on this most essential aspect of perioperative management of a
surgical patient has not been reached11
Hence the question of how to directly evaluate
performance and safety in the operating room still remains unanswered in surgeons mind12
To provide surgeons with a simple objective and direct method of rating a ten-point
Surgical Apgar Score was determined by Atul Gawande et al13
To derive the score more than
two dozen parameters collected in the operating room were assessed and it was discovered that
just three intraoperative variables remained independent predictors of major postoperative
complications and death They were - Lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss A score built from these three predictors has proved beyond doubt as a
18
strong predictive model for categorizing the patients at risk of major postoperative
complications and death in general and vascular surgery13
As this scoring system requires data that can be collected immediately upon completion
of an operation for patients in any setting regardless of resource and technological capacity it
is the simplest available scoring system for assessing the risk
Like the obstetrical Apgar score 14
it cannot by itself assess the quality of care as its
three variables are influenced not only by the performance of surgical teams but also by the
patientsrsquo preoperative physiological status and the magnitude of the operations they undergo15
For the score to be a clinically useful predictor of postoperative complications each component
of it or the score as a whole should contribute to predict surgical outcome
Because of its simplicity availability in real time being immediately applicable for
clinical decision making and inexpensively collectable Apgar score is therefore a powerful tool
for early recognition of complications Such an early predictability would thereby improve
safety in surgery Despite concordance between preoperative factors and measurement
intraoperative factors after accounting for preoperative risk the Surgical Apgar Score remains a
significant predictor of postoperative complications Because the feedback is almost immediate
this would help the surgical team in categorizing the patients in need of more and intense
postoperative monitoring and care from those who pass an uncomplicated course
It would act as a mode of communication between the surgeons residents nursing staff
about the immediate postoperative status and thereby assist decision making about for example
planned admission after an OPD proceduredaycare procedure admission to ICU or also the
frequency of post op visits to the surgeon Even in those with low surgical apgar scores but
uncomplicated outcome it would enable an early identification of problems as such patients are
19
subjected to routine clinical surveillance and repeated reviews Reliance on anesthesiologistrsquos
unbiased estimation further upgrades the reliability insulating against surgeonrsquos bias16
In this study we will evaluate the predictive ability of the surgical apgar score in general
and vascular surgery
20
OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
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from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
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3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
9
CONCLUSION
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE is a simple and useful method of predicting the morbidity
and the 30 day mortality of patients undergoing general surgical procedures It is more sensitive
in predicting the outcome in emergency cases as compared to the elective cases
KEY WORDS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE MORBIDITY 30 DAY MORTALITY
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
10
CONTENTS
SL NO CONTENTS PAGE NO
1 INTRODUCTION 14
2 OBJECTIVES 20
3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 22
4 MATERIALS AND METHODS 35
5 RESULTS 43
6 DISCUSSION 56
7 CONCLUSION 63
8 SUMMARY 65
9 BIBLIOGRAPHY 68
10 ANNEXURE 75
11
LIST OF TABLES FIGURES PIE CHARTS AND BAR DIAGRAMS
SL
NO
TABLES PAGE NO
1 POSSUM PARAMETERS 30
2
DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPONENT
PARAMETERS OF THE SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
33
3
CLAVEIN CLASSIFICATION OF GRADING THE
POST OP EVENTS BASED ON THE SEVERITY OF
COMPLICATIONS
41
4 SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400 PATIENTS 44
5
AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400
PATIENTS
44
6
PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE
COMPLICATION RATES
47
7
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES 48
8
TYPES OF SURGERY AND THE COMPLICATION
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
50
9
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY 52
12
10
PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN
ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
53
11
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR ELECTIVE
SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE
54
12
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR
EMERGENCY SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
55
SL
NO
FIGURES PAGE NO
1
VARIOUS CHARACTERISTICS ON THE
POSTOPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS AND DEATH
25
2 NEW SIMPLIFIED ACUTE PHYSIOLOGY SCORE 29
13
SL
NO
BAR CHARTS AND PIE DIAGRAMS PAGE NO
1 SEX DISTRIBUTION 44
2 AGE DISTRIBUTION 44
3
PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR GROUP
45
4
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
48
5
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
51
14
INTRODUCTION
15
INTRODUCTION
Hospitals and surgical teams strive to provide a consistently low incidence of major
complications for patients undergoing any given operation The prediction of complications is
an essential part of risk management in surgical practice Recognizing patients at high risk of
developing a complication will contribute substantially to the quality of operation and of cost
reduction in surgery Marked variability of postoperative outcomes is usually found due to
differences in patientrsquos preoperative risk factors1
An ideal model to predict complication in surgical patients should be simple and readily
applicable to all patients when operated While developing a predictive model for complications
in surgical patients an accurate estimate of the incidence of these complications is needed
Therefore a proper definition of a complication with a low detection threshold is necessary
However the intraoperative variable response of the body in terms of vital parameters
such as heart rate blood pressure arterial saturation and tissue perfusion to the surgical stress
further contributes to variability in patientsrsquo risk of developing complications1
With the evolution of better monitoring techniques and well equipped laboratories
newer general and specialized surgical scoring systems have emerged as follows-
General SAPS II APACHE II MODS (Multiple Organ Dysfunction Score)
TRIOS (Three days Recalibrated ICU Outcome Score) etc
Specialized Surgical
POSSUM (Physiologic and Operative Severity Score for the enumeration of Mortality
and Morbidity)
16
MPM for cancer patients
Glasgow Coma Score for neurosurgical patients
NSQIP etc
However they are not easily calculated at the bedside Entering numerous data elements
which include patient characteristics and lab data that are not uniformly collected making them
more vulnerable for errors thus losing reproducibility among various multidisciplinary teams
involved in patients care
Prevailing methods of surgical quality assessment such as the American College of
Surgeonsrsquo National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP)2ndash4
evaluate surgical
performance indirectly ie by assessing the multiple preoperative risk factors and in addition
attributes disparities between observed and expected complication rates to the treatment
provided
For example in Surgeries for Small Bowel Obstruction Preoperative factors predictive
of postoperative morbidity includes history of CHF cerebrovascular accident with neurologic
deficit history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease WBC lt4500mm3 functional health
status preoperative creatinine gt12 mgdL and advancing age (in decades) Intraoperatively
higher wound class and ASA class are also predictive of morbidity Operative factors like
simple small bowel resection in comparison to adhesiolysis alone has more incidences of
morbidity and complications 6
Preoperative factors that clearly impact the mortality rate are history of disseminated cancer
preoperative hematocrit lt38 preoperative sodium gt145 mEqL preoperative creatinine gt12
mgdL dyspnea and advancing age (in decades) The finding that elevated WBC occurs more
17
frequently in cases of adhesiolysis than in cases for bowel resection estimates the unreliable
nature of leukocytosis in differentiating inflammation and infection6
Intraoperative factors that predict mortality include advance ASA class and higher wound class
In the operating room surgeons have relied principally on ldquogut-feelingrdquo instead of their
objective assessment of the operative course for postoperative prognostication5 Such
prognostication models have rated the patients in broader categories and provide considerable
clinical guide towards patients care
Most believe that operative management contributes importantly to overall outcomes
but quantitative measurements of operative care are not available1 Among intraoperative
factors the alterations in patientrsquos condition including hypotension7 hypertension
hypothermia bradycardia89
tachycardia and blood loss10
have been independently linked with
adverse perioperative outcomes Some risk prediction methods have integrated these
intraoperative variables for early prediction of postoperative morbidity and mortality
Nevertheless a clear consensus on this most essential aspect of perioperative management of a
surgical patient has not been reached11
Hence the question of how to directly evaluate
performance and safety in the operating room still remains unanswered in surgeons mind12
To provide surgeons with a simple objective and direct method of rating a ten-point
Surgical Apgar Score was determined by Atul Gawande et al13
To derive the score more than
two dozen parameters collected in the operating room were assessed and it was discovered that
just three intraoperative variables remained independent predictors of major postoperative
complications and death They were - Lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss A score built from these three predictors has proved beyond doubt as a
18
strong predictive model for categorizing the patients at risk of major postoperative
complications and death in general and vascular surgery13
As this scoring system requires data that can be collected immediately upon completion
of an operation for patients in any setting regardless of resource and technological capacity it
is the simplest available scoring system for assessing the risk
Like the obstetrical Apgar score 14
it cannot by itself assess the quality of care as its
three variables are influenced not only by the performance of surgical teams but also by the
patientsrsquo preoperative physiological status and the magnitude of the operations they undergo15
For the score to be a clinically useful predictor of postoperative complications each component
of it or the score as a whole should contribute to predict surgical outcome
Because of its simplicity availability in real time being immediately applicable for
clinical decision making and inexpensively collectable Apgar score is therefore a powerful tool
for early recognition of complications Such an early predictability would thereby improve
safety in surgery Despite concordance between preoperative factors and measurement
intraoperative factors after accounting for preoperative risk the Surgical Apgar Score remains a
significant predictor of postoperative complications Because the feedback is almost immediate
this would help the surgical team in categorizing the patients in need of more and intense
postoperative monitoring and care from those who pass an uncomplicated course
It would act as a mode of communication between the surgeons residents nursing staff
about the immediate postoperative status and thereby assist decision making about for example
planned admission after an OPD proceduredaycare procedure admission to ICU or also the
frequency of post op visits to the surgeon Even in those with low surgical apgar scores but
uncomplicated outcome it would enable an early identification of problems as such patients are
19
subjected to routine clinical surveillance and repeated reviews Reliance on anesthesiologistrsquos
unbiased estimation further upgrades the reliability insulating against surgeonrsquos bias16
In this study we will evaluate the predictive ability of the surgical apgar score in general
and vascular surgery
20
OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
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from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
10
CONTENTS
SL NO CONTENTS PAGE NO
1 INTRODUCTION 14
2 OBJECTIVES 20
3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 22
4 MATERIALS AND METHODS 35
5 RESULTS 43
6 DISCUSSION 56
7 CONCLUSION 63
8 SUMMARY 65
9 BIBLIOGRAPHY 68
10 ANNEXURE 75
11
LIST OF TABLES FIGURES PIE CHARTS AND BAR DIAGRAMS
SL
NO
TABLES PAGE NO
1 POSSUM PARAMETERS 30
2
DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPONENT
PARAMETERS OF THE SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
33
3
CLAVEIN CLASSIFICATION OF GRADING THE
POST OP EVENTS BASED ON THE SEVERITY OF
COMPLICATIONS
41
4 SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400 PATIENTS 44
5
AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400
PATIENTS
44
6
PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE
COMPLICATION RATES
47
7
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES 48
8
TYPES OF SURGERY AND THE COMPLICATION
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
50
9
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY 52
12
10
PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN
ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
53
11
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR ELECTIVE
SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE
54
12
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR
EMERGENCY SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
55
SL
NO
FIGURES PAGE NO
1
VARIOUS CHARACTERISTICS ON THE
POSTOPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS AND DEATH
25
2 NEW SIMPLIFIED ACUTE PHYSIOLOGY SCORE 29
13
SL
NO
BAR CHARTS AND PIE DIAGRAMS PAGE NO
1 SEX DISTRIBUTION 44
2 AGE DISTRIBUTION 44
3
PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR GROUP
45
4
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
48
5
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
51
14
INTRODUCTION
15
INTRODUCTION
Hospitals and surgical teams strive to provide a consistently low incidence of major
complications for patients undergoing any given operation The prediction of complications is
an essential part of risk management in surgical practice Recognizing patients at high risk of
developing a complication will contribute substantially to the quality of operation and of cost
reduction in surgery Marked variability of postoperative outcomes is usually found due to
differences in patientrsquos preoperative risk factors1
An ideal model to predict complication in surgical patients should be simple and readily
applicable to all patients when operated While developing a predictive model for complications
in surgical patients an accurate estimate of the incidence of these complications is needed
Therefore a proper definition of a complication with a low detection threshold is necessary
However the intraoperative variable response of the body in terms of vital parameters
such as heart rate blood pressure arterial saturation and tissue perfusion to the surgical stress
further contributes to variability in patientsrsquo risk of developing complications1
With the evolution of better monitoring techniques and well equipped laboratories
newer general and specialized surgical scoring systems have emerged as follows-
General SAPS II APACHE II MODS (Multiple Organ Dysfunction Score)
TRIOS (Three days Recalibrated ICU Outcome Score) etc
Specialized Surgical
POSSUM (Physiologic and Operative Severity Score for the enumeration of Mortality
and Morbidity)
16
MPM for cancer patients
Glasgow Coma Score for neurosurgical patients
NSQIP etc
However they are not easily calculated at the bedside Entering numerous data elements
which include patient characteristics and lab data that are not uniformly collected making them
more vulnerable for errors thus losing reproducibility among various multidisciplinary teams
involved in patients care
Prevailing methods of surgical quality assessment such as the American College of
Surgeonsrsquo National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP)2ndash4
evaluate surgical
performance indirectly ie by assessing the multiple preoperative risk factors and in addition
attributes disparities between observed and expected complication rates to the treatment
provided
For example in Surgeries for Small Bowel Obstruction Preoperative factors predictive
of postoperative morbidity includes history of CHF cerebrovascular accident with neurologic
deficit history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease WBC lt4500mm3 functional health
status preoperative creatinine gt12 mgdL and advancing age (in decades) Intraoperatively
higher wound class and ASA class are also predictive of morbidity Operative factors like
simple small bowel resection in comparison to adhesiolysis alone has more incidences of
morbidity and complications 6
Preoperative factors that clearly impact the mortality rate are history of disseminated cancer
preoperative hematocrit lt38 preoperative sodium gt145 mEqL preoperative creatinine gt12
mgdL dyspnea and advancing age (in decades) The finding that elevated WBC occurs more
17
frequently in cases of adhesiolysis than in cases for bowel resection estimates the unreliable
nature of leukocytosis in differentiating inflammation and infection6
Intraoperative factors that predict mortality include advance ASA class and higher wound class
In the operating room surgeons have relied principally on ldquogut-feelingrdquo instead of their
objective assessment of the operative course for postoperative prognostication5 Such
prognostication models have rated the patients in broader categories and provide considerable
clinical guide towards patients care
Most believe that operative management contributes importantly to overall outcomes
but quantitative measurements of operative care are not available1 Among intraoperative
factors the alterations in patientrsquos condition including hypotension7 hypertension
hypothermia bradycardia89
tachycardia and blood loss10
have been independently linked with
adverse perioperative outcomes Some risk prediction methods have integrated these
intraoperative variables for early prediction of postoperative morbidity and mortality
Nevertheless a clear consensus on this most essential aspect of perioperative management of a
surgical patient has not been reached11
Hence the question of how to directly evaluate
performance and safety in the operating room still remains unanswered in surgeons mind12
To provide surgeons with a simple objective and direct method of rating a ten-point
Surgical Apgar Score was determined by Atul Gawande et al13
To derive the score more than
two dozen parameters collected in the operating room were assessed and it was discovered that
just three intraoperative variables remained independent predictors of major postoperative
complications and death They were - Lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss A score built from these three predictors has proved beyond doubt as a
18
strong predictive model for categorizing the patients at risk of major postoperative
complications and death in general and vascular surgery13
As this scoring system requires data that can be collected immediately upon completion
of an operation for patients in any setting regardless of resource and technological capacity it
is the simplest available scoring system for assessing the risk
Like the obstetrical Apgar score 14
it cannot by itself assess the quality of care as its
three variables are influenced not only by the performance of surgical teams but also by the
patientsrsquo preoperative physiological status and the magnitude of the operations they undergo15
For the score to be a clinically useful predictor of postoperative complications each component
of it or the score as a whole should contribute to predict surgical outcome
Because of its simplicity availability in real time being immediately applicable for
clinical decision making and inexpensively collectable Apgar score is therefore a powerful tool
for early recognition of complications Such an early predictability would thereby improve
safety in surgery Despite concordance between preoperative factors and measurement
intraoperative factors after accounting for preoperative risk the Surgical Apgar Score remains a
significant predictor of postoperative complications Because the feedback is almost immediate
this would help the surgical team in categorizing the patients in need of more and intense
postoperative monitoring and care from those who pass an uncomplicated course
It would act as a mode of communication between the surgeons residents nursing staff
about the immediate postoperative status and thereby assist decision making about for example
planned admission after an OPD proceduredaycare procedure admission to ICU or also the
frequency of post op visits to the surgeon Even in those with low surgical apgar scores but
uncomplicated outcome it would enable an early identification of problems as such patients are
19
subjected to routine clinical surveillance and repeated reviews Reliance on anesthesiologistrsquos
unbiased estimation further upgrades the reliability insulating against surgeonrsquos bias16
In this study we will evaluate the predictive ability of the surgical apgar score in general
and vascular surgery
20
OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
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from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
11
LIST OF TABLES FIGURES PIE CHARTS AND BAR DIAGRAMS
SL
NO
TABLES PAGE NO
1 POSSUM PARAMETERS 30
2
DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPONENT
PARAMETERS OF THE SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
33
3
CLAVEIN CLASSIFICATION OF GRADING THE
POST OP EVENTS BASED ON THE SEVERITY OF
COMPLICATIONS
41
4 SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400 PATIENTS 44
5
AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF 400
PATIENTS
44
6
PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE
COMPLICATION RATES
47
7
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES 48
8
TYPES OF SURGERY AND THE COMPLICATION
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
50
9
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY 52
12
10
PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN
ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
53
11
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR ELECTIVE
SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE
54
12
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR
EMERGENCY SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
55
SL
NO
FIGURES PAGE NO
1
VARIOUS CHARACTERISTICS ON THE
POSTOPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS AND DEATH
25
2 NEW SIMPLIFIED ACUTE PHYSIOLOGY SCORE 29
13
SL
NO
BAR CHARTS AND PIE DIAGRAMS PAGE NO
1 SEX DISTRIBUTION 44
2 AGE DISTRIBUTION 44
3
PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR GROUP
45
4
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
48
5
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
51
14
INTRODUCTION
15
INTRODUCTION
Hospitals and surgical teams strive to provide a consistently low incidence of major
complications for patients undergoing any given operation The prediction of complications is
an essential part of risk management in surgical practice Recognizing patients at high risk of
developing a complication will contribute substantially to the quality of operation and of cost
reduction in surgery Marked variability of postoperative outcomes is usually found due to
differences in patientrsquos preoperative risk factors1
An ideal model to predict complication in surgical patients should be simple and readily
applicable to all patients when operated While developing a predictive model for complications
in surgical patients an accurate estimate of the incidence of these complications is needed
Therefore a proper definition of a complication with a low detection threshold is necessary
However the intraoperative variable response of the body in terms of vital parameters
such as heart rate blood pressure arterial saturation and tissue perfusion to the surgical stress
further contributes to variability in patientsrsquo risk of developing complications1
With the evolution of better monitoring techniques and well equipped laboratories
newer general and specialized surgical scoring systems have emerged as follows-
General SAPS II APACHE II MODS (Multiple Organ Dysfunction Score)
TRIOS (Three days Recalibrated ICU Outcome Score) etc
Specialized Surgical
POSSUM (Physiologic and Operative Severity Score for the enumeration of Mortality
and Morbidity)
16
MPM for cancer patients
Glasgow Coma Score for neurosurgical patients
NSQIP etc
However they are not easily calculated at the bedside Entering numerous data elements
which include patient characteristics and lab data that are not uniformly collected making them
more vulnerable for errors thus losing reproducibility among various multidisciplinary teams
involved in patients care
Prevailing methods of surgical quality assessment such as the American College of
Surgeonsrsquo National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP)2ndash4
evaluate surgical
performance indirectly ie by assessing the multiple preoperative risk factors and in addition
attributes disparities between observed and expected complication rates to the treatment
provided
For example in Surgeries for Small Bowel Obstruction Preoperative factors predictive
of postoperative morbidity includes history of CHF cerebrovascular accident with neurologic
deficit history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease WBC lt4500mm3 functional health
status preoperative creatinine gt12 mgdL and advancing age (in decades) Intraoperatively
higher wound class and ASA class are also predictive of morbidity Operative factors like
simple small bowel resection in comparison to adhesiolysis alone has more incidences of
morbidity and complications 6
Preoperative factors that clearly impact the mortality rate are history of disseminated cancer
preoperative hematocrit lt38 preoperative sodium gt145 mEqL preoperative creatinine gt12
mgdL dyspnea and advancing age (in decades) The finding that elevated WBC occurs more
17
frequently in cases of adhesiolysis than in cases for bowel resection estimates the unreliable
nature of leukocytosis in differentiating inflammation and infection6
Intraoperative factors that predict mortality include advance ASA class and higher wound class
In the operating room surgeons have relied principally on ldquogut-feelingrdquo instead of their
objective assessment of the operative course for postoperative prognostication5 Such
prognostication models have rated the patients in broader categories and provide considerable
clinical guide towards patients care
Most believe that operative management contributes importantly to overall outcomes
but quantitative measurements of operative care are not available1 Among intraoperative
factors the alterations in patientrsquos condition including hypotension7 hypertension
hypothermia bradycardia89
tachycardia and blood loss10
have been independently linked with
adverse perioperative outcomes Some risk prediction methods have integrated these
intraoperative variables for early prediction of postoperative morbidity and mortality
Nevertheless a clear consensus on this most essential aspect of perioperative management of a
surgical patient has not been reached11
Hence the question of how to directly evaluate
performance and safety in the operating room still remains unanswered in surgeons mind12
To provide surgeons with a simple objective and direct method of rating a ten-point
Surgical Apgar Score was determined by Atul Gawande et al13
To derive the score more than
two dozen parameters collected in the operating room were assessed and it was discovered that
just three intraoperative variables remained independent predictors of major postoperative
complications and death They were - Lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss A score built from these three predictors has proved beyond doubt as a
18
strong predictive model for categorizing the patients at risk of major postoperative
complications and death in general and vascular surgery13
As this scoring system requires data that can be collected immediately upon completion
of an operation for patients in any setting regardless of resource and technological capacity it
is the simplest available scoring system for assessing the risk
Like the obstetrical Apgar score 14
it cannot by itself assess the quality of care as its
three variables are influenced not only by the performance of surgical teams but also by the
patientsrsquo preoperative physiological status and the magnitude of the operations they undergo15
For the score to be a clinically useful predictor of postoperative complications each component
of it or the score as a whole should contribute to predict surgical outcome
Because of its simplicity availability in real time being immediately applicable for
clinical decision making and inexpensively collectable Apgar score is therefore a powerful tool
for early recognition of complications Such an early predictability would thereby improve
safety in surgery Despite concordance between preoperative factors and measurement
intraoperative factors after accounting for preoperative risk the Surgical Apgar Score remains a
significant predictor of postoperative complications Because the feedback is almost immediate
this would help the surgical team in categorizing the patients in need of more and intense
postoperative monitoring and care from those who pass an uncomplicated course
It would act as a mode of communication between the surgeons residents nursing staff
about the immediate postoperative status and thereby assist decision making about for example
planned admission after an OPD proceduredaycare procedure admission to ICU or also the
frequency of post op visits to the surgeon Even in those with low surgical apgar scores but
uncomplicated outcome it would enable an early identification of problems as such patients are
19
subjected to routine clinical surveillance and repeated reviews Reliance on anesthesiologistrsquos
unbiased estimation further upgrades the reliability insulating against surgeonrsquos bias16
In this study we will evaluate the predictive ability of the surgical apgar score in general
and vascular surgery
20
OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
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from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
12
10
PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN
ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
53
11
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR ELECTIVE
SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE
54
12
30 DAYS SURGICAL OUTCOMES FOR
EMERGENCY SURGERY IN RELATION TO THE
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
55
SL
NO
FIGURES PAGE NO
1
VARIOUS CHARACTERISTICS ON THE
POSTOPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS AND DEATH
25
2 NEW SIMPLIFIED ACUTE PHYSIOLOGY SCORE 29
13
SL
NO
BAR CHARTS AND PIE DIAGRAMS PAGE NO
1 SEX DISTRIBUTION 44
2 AGE DISTRIBUTION 44
3
PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR GROUP
45
4
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
48
5
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
51
14
INTRODUCTION
15
INTRODUCTION
Hospitals and surgical teams strive to provide a consistently low incidence of major
complications for patients undergoing any given operation The prediction of complications is
an essential part of risk management in surgical practice Recognizing patients at high risk of
developing a complication will contribute substantially to the quality of operation and of cost
reduction in surgery Marked variability of postoperative outcomes is usually found due to
differences in patientrsquos preoperative risk factors1
An ideal model to predict complication in surgical patients should be simple and readily
applicable to all patients when operated While developing a predictive model for complications
in surgical patients an accurate estimate of the incidence of these complications is needed
Therefore a proper definition of a complication with a low detection threshold is necessary
However the intraoperative variable response of the body in terms of vital parameters
such as heart rate blood pressure arterial saturation and tissue perfusion to the surgical stress
further contributes to variability in patientsrsquo risk of developing complications1
With the evolution of better monitoring techniques and well equipped laboratories
newer general and specialized surgical scoring systems have emerged as follows-
General SAPS II APACHE II MODS (Multiple Organ Dysfunction Score)
TRIOS (Three days Recalibrated ICU Outcome Score) etc
Specialized Surgical
POSSUM (Physiologic and Operative Severity Score for the enumeration of Mortality
and Morbidity)
16
MPM for cancer patients
Glasgow Coma Score for neurosurgical patients
NSQIP etc
However they are not easily calculated at the bedside Entering numerous data elements
which include patient characteristics and lab data that are not uniformly collected making them
more vulnerable for errors thus losing reproducibility among various multidisciplinary teams
involved in patients care
Prevailing methods of surgical quality assessment such as the American College of
Surgeonsrsquo National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP)2ndash4
evaluate surgical
performance indirectly ie by assessing the multiple preoperative risk factors and in addition
attributes disparities between observed and expected complication rates to the treatment
provided
For example in Surgeries for Small Bowel Obstruction Preoperative factors predictive
of postoperative morbidity includes history of CHF cerebrovascular accident with neurologic
deficit history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease WBC lt4500mm3 functional health
status preoperative creatinine gt12 mgdL and advancing age (in decades) Intraoperatively
higher wound class and ASA class are also predictive of morbidity Operative factors like
simple small bowel resection in comparison to adhesiolysis alone has more incidences of
morbidity and complications 6
Preoperative factors that clearly impact the mortality rate are history of disseminated cancer
preoperative hematocrit lt38 preoperative sodium gt145 mEqL preoperative creatinine gt12
mgdL dyspnea and advancing age (in decades) The finding that elevated WBC occurs more
17
frequently in cases of adhesiolysis than in cases for bowel resection estimates the unreliable
nature of leukocytosis in differentiating inflammation and infection6
Intraoperative factors that predict mortality include advance ASA class and higher wound class
In the operating room surgeons have relied principally on ldquogut-feelingrdquo instead of their
objective assessment of the operative course for postoperative prognostication5 Such
prognostication models have rated the patients in broader categories and provide considerable
clinical guide towards patients care
Most believe that operative management contributes importantly to overall outcomes
but quantitative measurements of operative care are not available1 Among intraoperative
factors the alterations in patientrsquos condition including hypotension7 hypertension
hypothermia bradycardia89
tachycardia and blood loss10
have been independently linked with
adverse perioperative outcomes Some risk prediction methods have integrated these
intraoperative variables for early prediction of postoperative morbidity and mortality
Nevertheless a clear consensus on this most essential aspect of perioperative management of a
surgical patient has not been reached11
Hence the question of how to directly evaluate
performance and safety in the operating room still remains unanswered in surgeons mind12
To provide surgeons with a simple objective and direct method of rating a ten-point
Surgical Apgar Score was determined by Atul Gawande et al13
To derive the score more than
two dozen parameters collected in the operating room were assessed and it was discovered that
just three intraoperative variables remained independent predictors of major postoperative
complications and death They were - Lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss A score built from these three predictors has proved beyond doubt as a
18
strong predictive model for categorizing the patients at risk of major postoperative
complications and death in general and vascular surgery13
As this scoring system requires data that can be collected immediately upon completion
of an operation for patients in any setting regardless of resource and technological capacity it
is the simplest available scoring system for assessing the risk
Like the obstetrical Apgar score 14
it cannot by itself assess the quality of care as its
three variables are influenced not only by the performance of surgical teams but also by the
patientsrsquo preoperative physiological status and the magnitude of the operations they undergo15
For the score to be a clinically useful predictor of postoperative complications each component
of it or the score as a whole should contribute to predict surgical outcome
Because of its simplicity availability in real time being immediately applicable for
clinical decision making and inexpensively collectable Apgar score is therefore a powerful tool
for early recognition of complications Such an early predictability would thereby improve
safety in surgery Despite concordance between preoperative factors and measurement
intraoperative factors after accounting for preoperative risk the Surgical Apgar Score remains a
significant predictor of postoperative complications Because the feedback is almost immediate
this would help the surgical team in categorizing the patients in need of more and intense
postoperative monitoring and care from those who pass an uncomplicated course
It would act as a mode of communication between the surgeons residents nursing staff
about the immediate postoperative status and thereby assist decision making about for example
planned admission after an OPD proceduredaycare procedure admission to ICU or also the
frequency of post op visits to the surgeon Even in those with low surgical apgar scores but
uncomplicated outcome it would enable an early identification of problems as such patients are
19
subjected to routine clinical surveillance and repeated reviews Reliance on anesthesiologistrsquos
unbiased estimation further upgrades the reliability insulating against surgeonrsquos bias16
In this study we will evaluate the predictive ability of the surgical apgar score in general
and vascular surgery
20
OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
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from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
13
SL
NO
BAR CHARTS AND PIE DIAGRAMS PAGE NO
1 SEX DISTRIBUTION 44
2 AGE DISTRIBUTION 44
3
PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL
APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR GROUP
45
4
DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
48
5
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR
COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
51
14
INTRODUCTION
15
INTRODUCTION
Hospitals and surgical teams strive to provide a consistently low incidence of major
complications for patients undergoing any given operation The prediction of complications is
an essential part of risk management in surgical practice Recognizing patients at high risk of
developing a complication will contribute substantially to the quality of operation and of cost
reduction in surgery Marked variability of postoperative outcomes is usually found due to
differences in patientrsquos preoperative risk factors1
An ideal model to predict complication in surgical patients should be simple and readily
applicable to all patients when operated While developing a predictive model for complications
in surgical patients an accurate estimate of the incidence of these complications is needed
Therefore a proper definition of a complication with a low detection threshold is necessary
However the intraoperative variable response of the body in terms of vital parameters
such as heart rate blood pressure arterial saturation and tissue perfusion to the surgical stress
further contributes to variability in patientsrsquo risk of developing complications1
With the evolution of better monitoring techniques and well equipped laboratories
newer general and specialized surgical scoring systems have emerged as follows-
General SAPS II APACHE II MODS (Multiple Organ Dysfunction Score)
TRIOS (Three days Recalibrated ICU Outcome Score) etc
Specialized Surgical
POSSUM (Physiologic and Operative Severity Score for the enumeration of Mortality
and Morbidity)
16
MPM for cancer patients
Glasgow Coma Score for neurosurgical patients
NSQIP etc
However they are not easily calculated at the bedside Entering numerous data elements
which include patient characteristics and lab data that are not uniformly collected making them
more vulnerable for errors thus losing reproducibility among various multidisciplinary teams
involved in patients care
Prevailing methods of surgical quality assessment such as the American College of
Surgeonsrsquo National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP)2ndash4
evaluate surgical
performance indirectly ie by assessing the multiple preoperative risk factors and in addition
attributes disparities between observed and expected complication rates to the treatment
provided
For example in Surgeries for Small Bowel Obstruction Preoperative factors predictive
of postoperative morbidity includes history of CHF cerebrovascular accident with neurologic
deficit history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease WBC lt4500mm3 functional health
status preoperative creatinine gt12 mgdL and advancing age (in decades) Intraoperatively
higher wound class and ASA class are also predictive of morbidity Operative factors like
simple small bowel resection in comparison to adhesiolysis alone has more incidences of
morbidity and complications 6
Preoperative factors that clearly impact the mortality rate are history of disseminated cancer
preoperative hematocrit lt38 preoperative sodium gt145 mEqL preoperative creatinine gt12
mgdL dyspnea and advancing age (in decades) The finding that elevated WBC occurs more
17
frequently in cases of adhesiolysis than in cases for bowel resection estimates the unreliable
nature of leukocytosis in differentiating inflammation and infection6
Intraoperative factors that predict mortality include advance ASA class and higher wound class
In the operating room surgeons have relied principally on ldquogut-feelingrdquo instead of their
objective assessment of the operative course for postoperative prognostication5 Such
prognostication models have rated the patients in broader categories and provide considerable
clinical guide towards patients care
Most believe that operative management contributes importantly to overall outcomes
but quantitative measurements of operative care are not available1 Among intraoperative
factors the alterations in patientrsquos condition including hypotension7 hypertension
hypothermia bradycardia89
tachycardia and blood loss10
have been independently linked with
adverse perioperative outcomes Some risk prediction methods have integrated these
intraoperative variables for early prediction of postoperative morbidity and mortality
Nevertheless a clear consensus on this most essential aspect of perioperative management of a
surgical patient has not been reached11
Hence the question of how to directly evaluate
performance and safety in the operating room still remains unanswered in surgeons mind12
To provide surgeons with a simple objective and direct method of rating a ten-point
Surgical Apgar Score was determined by Atul Gawande et al13
To derive the score more than
two dozen parameters collected in the operating room were assessed and it was discovered that
just three intraoperative variables remained independent predictors of major postoperative
complications and death They were - Lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss A score built from these three predictors has proved beyond doubt as a
18
strong predictive model for categorizing the patients at risk of major postoperative
complications and death in general and vascular surgery13
As this scoring system requires data that can be collected immediately upon completion
of an operation for patients in any setting regardless of resource and technological capacity it
is the simplest available scoring system for assessing the risk
Like the obstetrical Apgar score 14
it cannot by itself assess the quality of care as its
three variables are influenced not only by the performance of surgical teams but also by the
patientsrsquo preoperative physiological status and the magnitude of the operations they undergo15
For the score to be a clinically useful predictor of postoperative complications each component
of it or the score as a whole should contribute to predict surgical outcome
Because of its simplicity availability in real time being immediately applicable for
clinical decision making and inexpensively collectable Apgar score is therefore a powerful tool
for early recognition of complications Such an early predictability would thereby improve
safety in surgery Despite concordance between preoperative factors and measurement
intraoperative factors after accounting for preoperative risk the Surgical Apgar Score remains a
significant predictor of postoperative complications Because the feedback is almost immediate
this would help the surgical team in categorizing the patients in need of more and intense
postoperative monitoring and care from those who pass an uncomplicated course
It would act as a mode of communication between the surgeons residents nursing staff
about the immediate postoperative status and thereby assist decision making about for example
planned admission after an OPD proceduredaycare procedure admission to ICU or also the
frequency of post op visits to the surgeon Even in those with low surgical apgar scores but
uncomplicated outcome it would enable an early identification of problems as such patients are
19
subjected to routine clinical surveillance and repeated reviews Reliance on anesthesiologistrsquos
unbiased estimation further upgrades the reliability insulating against surgeonrsquos bias16
In this study we will evaluate the predictive ability of the surgical apgar score in general
and vascular surgery
20
OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
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from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
14
INTRODUCTION
15
INTRODUCTION
Hospitals and surgical teams strive to provide a consistently low incidence of major
complications for patients undergoing any given operation The prediction of complications is
an essential part of risk management in surgical practice Recognizing patients at high risk of
developing a complication will contribute substantially to the quality of operation and of cost
reduction in surgery Marked variability of postoperative outcomes is usually found due to
differences in patientrsquos preoperative risk factors1
An ideal model to predict complication in surgical patients should be simple and readily
applicable to all patients when operated While developing a predictive model for complications
in surgical patients an accurate estimate of the incidence of these complications is needed
Therefore a proper definition of a complication with a low detection threshold is necessary
However the intraoperative variable response of the body in terms of vital parameters
such as heart rate blood pressure arterial saturation and tissue perfusion to the surgical stress
further contributes to variability in patientsrsquo risk of developing complications1
With the evolution of better monitoring techniques and well equipped laboratories
newer general and specialized surgical scoring systems have emerged as follows-
General SAPS II APACHE II MODS (Multiple Organ Dysfunction Score)
TRIOS (Three days Recalibrated ICU Outcome Score) etc
Specialized Surgical
POSSUM (Physiologic and Operative Severity Score for the enumeration of Mortality
and Morbidity)
16
MPM for cancer patients
Glasgow Coma Score for neurosurgical patients
NSQIP etc
However they are not easily calculated at the bedside Entering numerous data elements
which include patient characteristics and lab data that are not uniformly collected making them
more vulnerable for errors thus losing reproducibility among various multidisciplinary teams
involved in patients care
Prevailing methods of surgical quality assessment such as the American College of
Surgeonsrsquo National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP)2ndash4
evaluate surgical
performance indirectly ie by assessing the multiple preoperative risk factors and in addition
attributes disparities between observed and expected complication rates to the treatment
provided
For example in Surgeries for Small Bowel Obstruction Preoperative factors predictive
of postoperative morbidity includes history of CHF cerebrovascular accident with neurologic
deficit history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease WBC lt4500mm3 functional health
status preoperative creatinine gt12 mgdL and advancing age (in decades) Intraoperatively
higher wound class and ASA class are also predictive of morbidity Operative factors like
simple small bowel resection in comparison to adhesiolysis alone has more incidences of
morbidity and complications 6
Preoperative factors that clearly impact the mortality rate are history of disseminated cancer
preoperative hematocrit lt38 preoperative sodium gt145 mEqL preoperative creatinine gt12
mgdL dyspnea and advancing age (in decades) The finding that elevated WBC occurs more
17
frequently in cases of adhesiolysis than in cases for bowel resection estimates the unreliable
nature of leukocytosis in differentiating inflammation and infection6
Intraoperative factors that predict mortality include advance ASA class and higher wound class
In the operating room surgeons have relied principally on ldquogut-feelingrdquo instead of their
objective assessment of the operative course for postoperative prognostication5 Such
prognostication models have rated the patients in broader categories and provide considerable
clinical guide towards patients care
Most believe that operative management contributes importantly to overall outcomes
but quantitative measurements of operative care are not available1 Among intraoperative
factors the alterations in patientrsquos condition including hypotension7 hypertension
hypothermia bradycardia89
tachycardia and blood loss10
have been independently linked with
adverse perioperative outcomes Some risk prediction methods have integrated these
intraoperative variables for early prediction of postoperative morbidity and mortality
Nevertheless a clear consensus on this most essential aspect of perioperative management of a
surgical patient has not been reached11
Hence the question of how to directly evaluate
performance and safety in the operating room still remains unanswered in surgeons mind12
To provide surgeons with a simple objective and direct method of rating a ten-point
Surgical Apgar Score was determined by Atul Gawande et al13
To derive the score more than
two dozen parameters collected in the operating room were assessed and it was discovered that
just three intraoperative variables remained independent predictors of major postoperative
complications and death They were - Lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss A score built from these three predictors has proved beyond doubt as a
18
strong predictive model for categorizing the patients at risk of major postoperative
complications and death in general and vascular surgery13
As this scoring system requires data that can be collected immediately upon completion
of an operation for patients in any setting regardless of resource and technological capacity it
is the simplest available scoring system for assessing the risk
Like the obstetrical Apgar score 14
it cannot by itself assess the quality of care as its
three variables are influenced not only by the performance of surgical teams but also by the
patientsrsquo preoperative physiological status and the magnitude of the operations they undergo15
For the score to be a clinically useful predictor of postoperative complications each component
of it or the score as a whole should contribute to predict surgical outcome
Because of its simplicity availability in real time being immediately applicable for
clinical decision making and inexpensively collectable Apgar score is therefore a powerful tool
for early recognition of complications Such an early predictability would thereby improve
safety in surgery Despite concordance between preoperative factors and measurement
intraoperative factors after accounting for preoperative risk the Surgical Apgar Score remains a
significant predictor of postoperative complications Because the feedback is almost immediate
this would help the surgical team in categorizing the patients in need of more and intense
postoperative monitoring and care from those who pass an uncomplicated course
It would act as a mode of communication between the surgeons residents nursing staff
about the immediate postoperative status and thereby assist decision making about for example
planned admission after an OPD proceduredaycare procedure admission to ICU or also the
frequency of post op visits to the surgeon Even in those with low surgical apgar scores but
uncomplicated outcome it would enable an early identification of problems as such patients are
19
subjected to routine clinical surveillance and repeated reviews Reliance on anesthesiologistrsquos
unbiased estimation further upgrades the reliability insulating against surgeonrsquos bias16
In this study we will evaluate the predictive ability of the surgical apgar score in general
and vascular surgery
20
OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
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from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
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3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
15
INTRODUCTION
Hospitals and surgical teams strive to provide a consistently low incidence of major
complications for patients undergoing any given operation The prediction of complications is
an essential part of risk management in surgical practice Recognizing patients at high risk of
developing a complication will contribute substantially to the quality of operation and of cost
reduction in surgery Marked variability of postoperative outcomes is usually found due to
differences in patientrsquos preoperative risk factors1
An ideal model to predict complication in surgical patients should be simple and readily
applicable to all patients when operated While developing a predictive model for complications
in surgical patients an accurate estimate of the incidence of these complications is needed
Therefore a proper definition of a complication with a low detection threshold is necessary
However the intraoperative variable response of the body in terms of vital parameters
such as heart rate blood pressure arterial saturation and tissue perfusion to the surgical stress
further contributes to variability in patientsrsquo risk of developing complications1
With the evolution of better monitoring techniques and well equipped laboratories
newer general and specialized surgical scoring systems have emerged as follows-
General SAPS II APACHE II MODS (Multiple Organ Dysfunction Score)
TRIOS (Three days Recalibrated ICU Outcome Score) etc
Specialized Surgical
POSSUM (Physiologic and Operative Severity Score for the enumeration of Mortality
and Morbidity)
16
MPM for cancer patients
Glasgow Coma Score for neurosurgical patients
NSQIP etc
However they are not easily calculated at the bedside Entering numerous data elements
which include patient characteristics and lab data that are not uniformly collected making them
more vulnerable for errors thus losing reproducibility among various multidisciplinary teams
involved in patients care
Prevailing methods of surgical quality assessment such as the American College of
Surgeonsrsquo National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP)2ndash4
evaluate surgical
performance indirectly ie by assessing the multiple preoperative risk factors and in addition
attributes disparities between observed and expected complication rates to the treatment
provided
For example in Surgeries for Small Bowel Obstruction Preoperative factors predictive
of postoperative morbidity includes history of CHF cerebrovascular accident with neurologic
deficit history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease WBC lt4500mm3 functional health
status preoperative creatinine gt12 mgdL and advancing age (in decades) Intraoperatively
higher wound class and ASA class are also predictive of morbidity Operative factors like
simple small bowel resection in comparison to adhesiolysis alone has more incidences of
morbidity and complications 6
Preoperative factors that clearly impact the mortality rate are history of disseminated cancer
preoperative hematocrit lt38 preoperative sodium gt145 mEqL preoperative creatinine gt12
mgdL dyspnea and advancing age (in decades) The finding that elevated WBC occurs more
17
frequently in cases of adhesiolysis than in cases for bowel resection estimates the unreliable
nature of leukocytosis in differentiating inflammation and infection6
Intraoperative factors that predict mortality include advance ASA class and higher wound class
In the operating room surgeons have relied principally on ldquogut-feelingrdquo instead of their
objective assessment of the operative course for postoperative prognostication5 Such
prognostication models have rated the patients in broader categories and provide considerable
clinical guide towards patients care
Most believe that operative management contributes importantly to overall outcomes
but quantitative measurements of operative care are not available1 Among intraoperative
factors the alterations in patientrsquos condition including hypotension7 hypertension
hypothermia bradycardia89
tachycardia and blood loss10
have been independently linked with
adverse perioperative outcomes Some risk prediction methods have integrated these
intraoperative variables for early prediction of postoperative morbidity and mortality
Nevertheless a clear consensus on this most essential aspect of perioperative management of a
surgical patient has not been reached11
Hence the question of how to directly evaluate
performance and safety in the operating room still remains unanswered in surgeons mind12
To provide surgeons with a simple objective and direct method of rating a ten-point
Surgical Apgar Score was determined by Atul Gawande et al13
To derive the score more than
two dozen parameters collected in the operating room were assessed and it was discovered that
just three intraoperative variables remained independent predictors of major postoperative
complications and death They were - Lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss A score built from these three predictors has proved beyond doubt as a
18
strong predictive model for categorizing the patients at risk of major postoperative
complications and death in general and vascular surgery13
As this scoring system requires data that can be collected immediately upon completion
of an operation for patients in any setting regardless of resource and technological capacity it
is the simplest available scoring system for assessing the risk
Like the obstetrical Apgar score 14
it cannot by itself assess the quality of care as its
three variables are influenced not only by the performance of surgical teams but also by the
patientsrsquo preoperative physiological status and the magnitude of the operations they undergo15
For the score to be a clinically useful predictor of postoperative complications each component
of it or the score as a whole should contribute to predict surgical outcome
Because of its simplicity availability in real time being immediately applicable for
clinical decision making and inexpensively collectable Apgar score is therefore a powerful tool
for early recognition of complications Such an early predictability would thereby improve
safety in surgery Despite concordance between preoperative factors and measurement
intraoperative factors after accounting for preoperative risk the Surgical Apgar Score remains a
significant predictor of postoperative complications Because the feedback is almost immediate
this would help the surgical team in categorizing the patients in need of more and intense
postoperative monitoring and care from those who pass an uncomplicated course
It would act as a mode of communication between the surgeons residents nursing staff
about the immediate postoperative status and thereby assist decision making about for example
planned admission after an OPD proceduredaycare procedure admission to ICU or also the
frequency of post op visits to the surgeon Even in those with low surgical apgar scores but
uncomplicated outcome it would enable an early identification of problems as such patients are
19
subjected to routine clinical surveillance and repeated reviews Reliance on anesthesiologistrsquos
unbiased estimation further upgrades the reliability insulating against surgeonrsquos bias16
In this study we will evaluate the predictive ability of the surgical apgar score in general
and vascular surgery
20
OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
16
MPM for cancer patients
Glasgow Coma Score for neurosurgical patients
NSQIP etc
However they are not easily calculated at the bedside Entering numerous data elements
which include patient characteristics and lab data that are not uniformly collected making them
more vulnerable for errors thus losing reproducibility among various multidisciplinary teams
involved in patients care
Prevailing methods of surgical quality assessment such as the American College of
Surgeonsrsquo National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP)2ndash4
evaluate surgical
performance indirectly ie by assessing the multiple preoperative risk factors and in addition
attributes disparities between observed and expected complication rates to the treatment
provided
For example in Surgeries for Small Bowel Obstruction Preoperative factors predictive
of postoperative morbidity includes history of CHF cerebrovascular accident with neurologic
deficit history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease WBC lt4500mm3 functional health
status preoperative creatinine gt12 mgdL and advancing age (in decades) Intraoperatively
higher wound class and ASA class are also predictive of morbidity Operative factors like
simple small bowel resection in comparison to adhesiolysis alone has more incidences of
morbidity and complications 6
Preoperative factors that clearly impact the mortality rate are history of disseminated cancer
preoperative hematocrit lt38 preoperative sodium gt145 mEqL preoperative creatinine gt12
mgdL dyspnea and advancing age (in decades) The finding that elevated WBC occurs more
17
frequently in cases of adhesiolysis than in cases for bowel resection estimates the unreliable
nature of leukocytosis in differentiating inflammation and infection6
Intraoperative factors that predict mortality include advance ASA class and higher wound class
In the operating room surgeons have relied principally on ldquogut-feelingrdquo instead of their
objective assessment of the operative course for postoperative prognostication5 Such
prognostication models have rated the patients in broader categories and provide considerable
clinical guide towards patients care
Most believe that operative management contributes importantly to overall outcomes
but quantitative measurements of operative care are not available1 Among intraoperative
factors the alterations in patientrsquos condition including hypotension7 hypertension
hypothermia bradycardia89
tachycardia and blood loss10
have been independently linked with
adverse perioperative outcomes Some risk prediction methods have integrated these
intraoperative variables for early prediction of postoperative morbidity and mortality
Nevertheless a clear consensus on this most essential aspect of perioperative management of a
surgical patient has not been reached11
Hence the question of how to directly evaluate
performance and safety in the operating room still remains unanswered in surgeons mind12
To provide surgeons with a simple objective and direct method of rating a ten-point
Surgical Apgar Score was determined by Atul Gawande et al13
To derive the score more than
two dozen parameters collected in the operating room were assessed and it was discovered that
just three intraoperative variables remained independent predictors of major postoperative
complications and death They were - Lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss A score built from these three predictors has proved beyond doubt as a
18
strong predictive model for categorizing the patients at risk of major postoperative
complications and death in general and vascular surgery13
As this scoring system requires data that can be collected immediately upon completion
of an operation for patients in any setting regardless of resource and technological capacity it
is the simplest available scoring system for assessing the risk
Like the obstetrical Apgar score 14
it cannot by itself assess the quality of care as its
three variables are influenced not only by the performance of surgical teams but also by the
patientsrsquo preoperative physiological status and the magnitude of the operations they undergo15
For the score to be a clinically useful predictor of postoperative complications each component
of it or the score as a whole should contribute to predict surgical outcome
Because of its simplicity availability in real time being immediately applicable for
clinical decision making and inexpensively collectable Apgar score is therefore a powerful tool
for early recognition of complications Such an early predictability would thereby improve
safety in surgery Despite concordance between preoperative factors and measurement
intraoperative factors after accounting for preoperative risk the Surgical Apgar Score remains a
significant predictor of postoperative complications Because the feedback is almost immediate
this would help the surgical team in categorizing the patients in need of more and intense
postoperative monitoring and care from those who pass an uncomplicated course
It would act as a mode of communication between the surgeons residents nursing staff
about the immediate postoperative status and thereby assist decision making about for example
planned admission after an OPD proceduredaycare procedure admission to ICU or also the
frequency of post op visits to the surgeon Even in those with low surgical apgar scores but
uncomplicated outcome it would enable an early identification of problems as such patients are
19
subjected to routine clinical surveillance and repeated reviews Reliance on anesthesiologistrsquos
unbiased estimation further upgrades the reliability insulating against surgeonrsquos bias16
In this study we will evaluate the predictive ability of the surgical apgar score in general
and vascular surgery
20
OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
17
frequently in cases of adhesiolysis than in cases for bowel resection estimates the unreliable
nature of leukocytosis in differentiating inflammation and infection6
Intraoperative factors that predict mortality include advance ASA class and higher wound class
In the operating room surgeons have relied principally on ldquogut-feelingrdquo instead of their
objective assessment of the operative course for postoperative prognostication5 Such
prognostication models have rated the patients in broader categories and provide considerable
clinical guide towards patients care
Most believe that operative management contributes importantly to overall outcomes
but quantitative measurements of operative care are not available1 Among intraoperative
factors the alterations in patientrsquos condition including hypotension7 hypertension
hypothermia bradycardia89
tachycardia and blood loss10
have been independently linked with
adverse perioperative outcomes Some risk prediction methods have integrated these
intraoperative variables for early prediction of postoperative morbidity and mortality
Nevertheless a clear consensus on this most essential aspect of perioperative management of a
surgical patient has not been reached11
Hence the question of how to directly evaluate
performance and safety in the operating room still remains unanswered in surgeons mind12
To provide surgeons with a simple objective and direct method of rating a ten-point
Surgical Apgar Score was determined by Atul Gawande et al13
To derive the score more than
two dozen parameters collected in the operating room were assessed and it was discovered that
just three intraoperative variables remained independent predictors of major postoperative
complications and death They were - Lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss A score built from these three predictors has proved beyond doubt as a
18
strong predictive model for categorizing the patients at risk of major postoperative
complications and death in general and vascular surgery13
As this scoring system requires data that can be collected immediately upon completion
of an operation for patients in any setting regardless of resource and technological capacity it
is the simplest available scoring system for assessing the risk
Like the obstetrical Apgar score 14
it cannot by itself assess the quality of care as its
three variables are influenced not only by the performance of surgical teams but also by the
patientsrsquo preoperative physiological status and the magnitude of the operations they undergo15
For the score to be a clinically useful predictor of postoperative complications each component
of it or the score as a whole should contribute to predict surgical outcome
Because of its simplicity availability in real time being immediately applicable for
clinical decision making and inexpensively collectable Apgar score is therefore a powerful tool
for early recognition of complications Such an early predictability would thereby improve
safety in surgery Despite concordance between preoperative factors and measurement
intraoperative factors after accounting for preoperative risk the Surgical Apgar Score remains a
significant predictor of postoperative complications Because the feedback is almost immediate
this would help the surgical team in categorizing the patients in need of more and intense
postoperative monitoring and care from those who pass an uncomplicated course
It would act as a mode of communication between the surgeons residents nursing staff
about the immediate postoperative status and thereby assist decision making about for example
planned admission after an OPD proceduredaycare procedure admission to ICU or also the
frequency of post op visits to the surgeon Even in those with low surgical apgar scores but
uncomplicated outcome it would enable an early identification of problems as such patients are
19
subjected to routine clinical surveillance and repeated reviews Reliance on anesthesiologistrsquos
unbiased estimation further upgrades the reliability insulating against surgeonrsquos bias16
In this study we will evaluate the predictive ability of the surgical apgar score in general
and vascular surgery
20
OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
18
strong predictive model for categorizing the patients at risk of major postoperative
complications and death in general and vascular surgery13
As this scoring system requires data that can be collected immediately upon completion
of an operation for patients in any setting regardless of resource and technological capacity it
is the simplest available scoring system for assessing the risk
Like the obstetrical Apgar score 14
it cannot by itself assess the quality of care as its
three variables are influenced not only by the performance of surgical teams but also by the
patientsrsquo preoperative physiological status and the magnitude of the operations they undergo15
For the score to be a clinically useful predictor of postoperative complications each component
of it or the score as a whole should contribute to predict surgical outcome
Because of its simplicity availability in real time being immediately applicable for
clinical decision making and inexpensively collectable Apgar score is therefore a powerful tool
for early recognition of complications Such an early predictability would thereby improve
safety in surgery Despite concordance between preoperative factors and measurement
intraoperative factors after accounting for preoperative risk the Surgical Apgar Score remains a
significant predictor of postoperative complications Because the feedback is almost immediate
this would help the surgical team in categorizing the patients in need of more and intense
postoperative monitoring and care from those who pass an uncomplicated course
It would act as a mode of communication between the surgeons residents nursing staff
about the immediate postoperative status and thereby assist decision making about for example
planned admission after an OPD proceduredaycare procedure admission to ICU or also the
frequency of post op visits to the surgeon Even in those with low surgical apgar scores but
uncomplicated outcome it would enable an early identification of problems as such patients are
19
subjected to routine clinical surveillance and repeated reviews Reliance on anesthesiologistrsquos
unbiased estimation further upgrades the reliability insulating against surgeonrsquos bias16
In this study we will evaluate the predictive ability of the surgical apgar score in general
and vascular surgery
20
OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
19
subjected to routine clinical surveillance and repeated reviews Reliance on anesthesiologistrsquos
unbiased estimation further upgrades the reliability insulating against surgeonrsquos bias16
In this study we will evaluate the predictive ability of the surgical apgar score in general
and vascular surgery
20
OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
20
OBJECTIVES OF
THE STUDY
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
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2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
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3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
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1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
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199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
21
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1 To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patientrsquos outcome in the form of
complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality)
2 To estimate the outcome versus the Surgical Apgar score for both elective and
emergency surgery
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
22
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
23
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction -
The assessment of the potential risks of peri-operative mortality and morbidity is
increasingly important for the provision of health care There is a growing realization that
healthcare providers (doctors) need to ensure appropriate installation or commission of all the
available resources By doing so it would enable the most deserving patients to get most
appropriate healthcare available in the hospital17
Adequate stratification and scoring of risk should therefore be considered essential to
aid clinical practice Assessment of patients for categorization may occur at various points
throughout the patientrsquos journey through the hospital ie from the OPD to WARD to OT to
ICU It can be grouped into three stages relating to the operation
1 Preoperative assessment - this is when planning and intervention can help quantify the
potential risks of a procedure for the patient by virtue of patientrsquos inbuilt physiological
and acquired pathological comorbidites
2 Peri-operative (physiological) assessment may determine the most suitable setting for
further care of the patient ie admission into ICU HDU ward or day care surgical
setup This is based on the preliminary preoperative risk stratification conducted as the
patient arrives to the hospital
3 Post-operative scores calculated from the patients Intraoperative variables and the
responses to these variations may alter the further management of postoperative
patients19
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
24
One of the prominent works was done on this by P M Markus J Martell et al who
conducted a prospective study of 1077 consecutive patients undergoing major hepatobiliary or
gastrointestinal surgery18
Both elective (n = 827) and emergency (n = 250) procedures were
included The surgeon based on his gut-feeling of the procedure predicted the development of
postoperative complications immediately after completion of surgery on a scale from 0 to 100
per cent These predictions were then compared with the actual outcome and with predictions
made using the Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality
and morbidity (POSSUM)
The observed morbidity and mortality rates were 295 and 34 per cent respectively
POSSUM predicted a morbidity rate of 464 per cent and P-POSSUM a mortality rate of 69 per
cent The surgeons gut-feeling was more accurate in the prediction of morbidity at 321 per
cent On the basis of gut-feeling surgeons usually over predict the morbidity rates in elective
surgery but underestimate in emergency settings18
Postoperative morbidity and mortality as shown in figure 1 is associated with 3 major
categories of risk factors 1) Patient co morbidity 2) The surgical procedure itself and 3) Risks
directly related to anesthesia management Patient co morbidity - Earlier studies identified the
extremes of ages as a risk factor for perioperative adverse events Infants (0-1 years) and older
persons (65+ years) experience higher rates of postoperative mortality than persons of 2-64
years18
ASA is a well established surrogate measure of patient co morbidity 19
Higher ASA scores are associated increased risk of both 48h and 30d postoperative
mortality Nearly 35 of ASA grade V patients die within 48hrs and nearly 50 of those
patients die within 30d postoperatively Both 48hrs and 30d postoperative mortality rates are
higher after emergency procedure or after operations resulting in post operative ICU
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
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2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
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3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
25
admissions An emergency procedure imparts approximately 8 times increased risk if death
within 48h and 3 times increased risk of death within 30 d postoperatively Postoperative ICU
admission is associated with a 2-3 times increased risk of 48h or 30d postoperative mortality
Any surgery associated with a perioperative adverse event imparts a 12 times increased risk of
death within 48h postoperatively and 4 times increased risk of death within 30d
postoperatively20
FIGURE 1- Various characteristics and the risk factors of the patient availability of
resources at the hospital and surgeons experience determines the outcome of a surgery including
the postoperative complications and death
A variety of risk scoring systems are derived from different population of patients for a
variety of purposes and each has their limitations As surgical patients account for up to 70 of
the workload of general intensive care units (ICUs) risk scoring systems that related to ICU and
critically ill patients have also to be categorized
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
26
Overview of Risk Scoring Systems and Models-
A number of scoring systems exist which have been applied to patients who are acutely
ill and with comorbidites In patients undergoing surgery these risk scoring systems can be
broadly categorized into three groups which relate to the timing of the assessment in relation to
the surgical procedure Outcome is generally measured in terms of mortality as it is a definitive
endpoint and easy to measure A few scores predict both morbidity and mortality while
Some indicate morbidity alone yet almost none seem to measure quality of life or return to pre-
existing function
A brief discussion on the advantages disadvantages the feasibility and the reproducibility of
some of these scores which are routinely practiced in the wards and ICU is worth mentioning
Pre-operative Scores
American Society of Anesthesiologists Score(ASA)-
In 1940-41 ASA asked a committee of three physicians (Meyer Saklad MD Emery
Rovenstine MD and Ivan Taylor MD) to study examine and devise a system for the
collection and tabulation of statistical data in anesthesia which could be applicable under any
circumstances21
Widely used as a surrogate for operative risk assessment the American Society of
Anesthesiologists (ASA) score was originally devised to grade the patients ldquoin relation to
physical status onlyrsquorsquo22
The ASA score is subjective and based on clinical evaluation only
although objective test results will indirectly affect the clinicianrsquos assessment18
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
27
ASA American Society of Anesthesiologists Grading
I Healthy patient
II Mild systemic disease no functional limitation
III Moderate systemic disease definite functional limitation
IV Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life
V Moribund patient unlikely to survive 24 h withwithout operation
Although not intended for use as a risk scoring system the ASA score has been used for
this purpose in part due to the simplicity of the tool its universal use and allowance for
individual patient parameters Limiting factors in its applicability are of the subjectivity lack of
specificity inherent in its design and wide inter-observer variability This classification system
assumes that age of the patient has no relation to physical fitness which is not true Neonates
and the elderly even in the absence of any systemic disease tolerate otherwise similar
anesthetics poorly in comparison to young adults2324
The ASA score has been used to categorize pre-operative risk and is a good indicator of
post-operative mortality19
It does not however provide a quantitative assessment of morbidity
and mortality risk and is better at risk stratification
Surgical Risk Scale -
Sutton et al25
devised the Surgical Risk Scale (SRS) as a comparative surgical audit tool
When prospectively validated it appeared to be effective at predicting mortality The ASA
score is combined with the Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths category and British
United Provident Association operative grade resulting in a score from 3 to 15 each of which
relates to a likely mortality score The use of the ASA makes it a partly subjective scoring
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
28
system The SRS has been shown to have a similar accuracy to Portsmouth Physiological and
Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and Morbidity (P-POSSUM) especially
in higher risk patients yet was easier to calculate 26
Peri-operative Physiological Scores
Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHEII)(FIGURE 2)-
The relatively complex scoring system the Acute Physiological and Chronic Health
Evaluation (APACHE) II (Knaus et al 1985) has been derived from large American ICU
patient databases27
While it does not specifically assess surgical patients Goffi et al28
found
that APACHE II could be used pre-operatively ldquowith cautionrdquo in both elective and emergency
surgical patients outside of the ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) setting The second
version of APACHE reduced the number of variables to 12 from the original 34 required A
further derivation APACHE III does not seem to be more accurate than APACHE II in the ICU
population and in some studies has been shown to be poorer when used to look at surgical
patients and patients with gastrointestinal disease 27
Overall while widely used and well-
understood calculating APACHE II is complex and time consuming Furthermore the raw data
is not always easily obtainable particularly outside that of the ICU setting
Simplified Acute Physiology Score-
The Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) is assigned after 24 h of ICU admission
and is another derivation of APACHE The second version SAPS II which uses the original 13
physiological variables also factors in the type of admission (elective or emergency medical or
surgical) and chronic health points (acquired immune deficiency syndrome metastatic cancer
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
29
and hematological malignancy)29
With its inherent weaknesses APACHE II is preferred to
SAPS II in most units
Figure 2 ndash New simplified Acute Physiology score
Post-Operative Scores
Mortality Prediction Model-
The Mortality Prediction Model (MPM) is normally scored at admission to ICUHDU
with data from within the first hour (MPM0) although older versions could be scored after 24 or
48 h (MPM24 and MPM48 respectively)30
The burden of data collection is low and relates to
the following emergency admission resuscitation cancer chronic renal failure heart rate
systolic blood pressure infection previous ICU admission within 6 months surgery age and
GCS The data allow for greater completeness and subsequently a higher degree of
consistency31
It does not use the worst criteria during the first 24 h unlike APACHE and
therefore can provide a more defined way of comparing admissions to different ICUs32
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
30
Limitations of the MPM are that some sub-groups are excluded (eg cardiac surgery
myocardial infarction and ICU readmissions) and while only recently updated APACHE IV
and SAPS III still obtain better discrimination
Physiological and Operative Severity Score for EnUmeration of Mortality and
Morbidity(POSSUM)-
The POSSUM predicts the probability of surgical mortality for a range of surgical sub-
populations and allows comparison of performance33
The 12 physiological factors can be
determined pre-operatively (Table 1)
Table ndash 1 ndash POSSUM PARAMETERS
Electively or peri-operatively its use has not been validated with regard to outcome or
need for ICU or HDU admission either Furthermore POSSUM has variable usage across
different specialities which has led to specialty-specific derivations of POSSUM especially in
esophageal 35
and colorectal surgery36
These have ideally increased predictive power at the
expense of decreasing cross-specialty comparison In POSSUM the lowest predictable expected
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
31
mortality is 1 This value equates to the rate for all patients undergoing general surgery So
POSSUM will effectively exaggerate mortality rates in minor operations
POSSUM is not readily applied to individual patients as it is based on an exponential
equation and the calculated prediction is based on groups These problems as well as that of
ldquogoodness of fitrdquo have led to a more broad-based derivation known as the P-POSSUM score37
Specialty-specific modifications seem to have improved the prognostic features of P-POSSUM
and it has become widely used and accepted as a risk scoring system
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress-
A Japanese comparative audit tool called Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Stress
(E-PASS) has been developed 38
This uses coefficients to combine pre-operative factors (heart-
disease pulmonary disease diabetes performance status) with operative aspects (ratio of blood
loss to body weight operative time type of operationincision) EPASS also incorporates age
and the ASA score It has been evaluated in elective gastrointestinal surgery The postoperative
morbidity rates linearly increases as the CRS(comprehensive risk score) increase The
postoperative mortality rate is only 013 when the CRS is lt 05 97 when the CRS range
from 05 to lt10 and 269 when the CRS is ge10 These results suggest that E-PASS may be
useful in predicting postsurgical risk estimating medical expense and comparing surgical
quality It seems similar to POSSUM and PPOSSUM in its applicability but is a complex
system to score39
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
32
Surgical Apgar Score -
It was not earlier than 1953 that a 10 point scoring system for evaluation of the
condition of newborn was formulated by Virginia Apgar A simple effective grading system for
predicting the performance of a newborn for the first 28 days14
The simplicity of the Apgar
score in obstetric practice led to its worldwide uptake as an assessment tool
Intraoperative blood loss heart rate and blood pressure are critical predictors of
postoperative risk is consistent with a variety of previous observations Hemodynamic
stability49
and the amount of blood loss 50
during surgery have long been recognized as
important independent factors in patient outcomes What had not been recognized were the
collective importance of these variables and their potential contribution to an easily-
implemented intraoperative performance metric
Gawande et al set out to describe a surgical model which they published in 2007 13
Under the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 303 randomly selected patients
undergoing colectomy at Brigham and Womenrsquos Hospital Boston were studied The primary
outcomes measure was incidence of major complication or death within 30 days of operation
They validated the score in two prospective randomly selected cohorts 102 colectomy patients
and 767 patients undergoing general or vascular operations at the same institution A 10-point
score as shown in table 2 based on a patientrsquos estimated amount of blood loss lowest heart rate
and lowest mean arterial pressure during general or vascular operations was associated with
major complications or significant 30 day mortality
Similar to early scoring systems it uses important physiological criteria which can be
assessed objectively Criticisms of this scoring system are that operative blood loss can be
subjective although the authors argue the wide categories allow for reasonably accurate
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
33
estimation The overall score can be used to discriminate which patients are likely to have a
post-operative mortality or morbidity The study showed that the incidence of major
complications was 586 and 36 with the scores of lt4 and gt8 respectively In multivariable
logistic regression it was found that lowest heart rate log EBL and lowest mean arterial
pressure (MAP) were each independent predictors of outcomes
Table 2 ndash Description of the component parameters of the Surgical Apgar Score and its
calculation at the end of the surgery
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the chances of major complication rates and 30 day
mortality rates
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
34
The scoring system was also further validated by Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M
Ehrenfeld et al who systematically sampled 4119 general and vascular surgery patients at
Massachusetts General Hospital40
Of 1441 patients with scores of 9 to 10 72 (50) developed
major complications within 30 days including 2 deaths (01) By comparison among 128
patients with scores of 4 or less 72 developed major complications (563) with 25 deaths The
mean lowest HRs were significantly lower (58 vs 63) and the mean lowest MAPs were
significantly higher (65 vs 61) among patients with no complications compared with those with
major complications Estimated blood loss was significantly lower in operations with no major
complications than in those resulting in major complications (25 vs 200 mL)
This study showed that these 3-variable score achieves C statistics of 073 for major
complications and 081 for deaths This indicates that they are independently capable of
predicting both morbidity and mortality and the accuracy improves when they are included in a
score
The subjective element of the ASA score seems to emphasise that there is role for
clinical judgement in assessing patients To overcome interobserver bias the surgical apgar
score has been created to provide an objective score that is easy to measure and calculate While
it has been validated more studies need to be performed before the Surgical Apgar Score
becomes as widely taken up as APACHEII NSQIP and P-POSSUM
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
35
MATERIALS AND
METHOD
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
36
MATERIALS AND METHOD
SOURCE OF DATA
A minimum of 400 randomly selected patients undergoing any general surgical
procedures at MS Ramaiah Hospitals were included in the study In view of nonavailability of
vascular procedures during the study period vascular surgical procedures were not included in
this study
INCLUSION CRITERIA
Patients undergoing emergency or elective general surgical procedures under general
epidural or spinal anesthesia
Post operative patients requiring intensive perioperative monitoring in the age group of
15 to 75 years
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Surgeries under local anesthesia not requiring intensive monitoring and regular follow-
ups
Various determinants such as age sex comorbid conditions presenting disease(s)
procedure executed the surgical apgar score the post op morbidity including complications till
30 days and the 30 day mortality are tabulated and analyzed
Both elective and emergency surgical procedures were allocated into categories for
simplicity as follows (Arvidsson et al) 41
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
37
MINOR AND INTERMEDIATE
1 Simple alimentary - a) Diagnostic laparoscopy b) Lap cholecystectomy c) Lap
appendectomy d) Resection and anastomosis of small bowel e) Closure of
perforation and f) Perianal procedures like i) Open or stapler haemorrhoidectomy ii)
Repair of prolapsed rectum iii) Drainage of ischiorectal and perianal abscesses
2 Breast surgeries - a) Simple mastectomy and b) Modified radical mastectomy with
axillary dissection with or without reconstruction
3 Total Thyroidectomy with or without centrallateral neck dissection
parathyroidectomy and simple or total parotidectomy with or without neck dissection
3 Groin or umbilical hernia repair ndash a) Anatomical repair like i) Bassinirsquos repair ii)
Shouldicersquos repair and iii) Mayorsquos repair b) Mesh hernioplasty like Lichtensteinrsquos
hernioplasty and
c) Laparoscopic hernia repair like i) Total extraperitoneal repair(TEP)
ii)Transabdominal Preperitoneal repair(TAPP) and iii)Lap paraumbilical hernia repair
4 Skin or soft tissue surgeries ndash extensive skin grafts for severe and large area burns
flaps like PectoralisMajorMyoCutaneous flap Deltopectoral flap and Sural artery flap
MAJOR AND EXTENSIVE
1 Complex alimentary or retroperitoneal like a) Hemicolectomy and Total colectomy
b) Partial and Total Gastrectomy c) Superior mesenteric artery thrombosis with
extensive small bowel resection d) Abdomino perineal resection(APR) e) Anterior
resection of rectum f) Esophagectomy and g) Excision of retroperitoneal tumors
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
38
2 Hepatobiliary and Pancreas surgery like a) lobectomy and segmentectomy b) Repair
of liver lacerations c) Open cholecystectomy d) Open CBD exploration e)
whipplersquos procedure f) Pancreatic necrosectomy and g) Open or lap splenectomy
3 Large Ventral or incision hernia repair like a) open technique with intraabdominal
biograft mesh b) Underlay or overlay mesh hernioplasty with or without
abdominoplasty
Using parameters like i) ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS ii) LOWEST HEART RATE
AND iii) LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE during the surgical procedure the
surgical Apgar score is calculated as shown in the table 2 The cumulative scores are separated
into 5 categories as follows - 0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Table 2 ndash Surgical Apgar Score
Surgical apgar score No of points
Variables 0 1 2 3 4
Estimated blood loss ml gt1000 600-1000 101-600 100
---
Lowest mean arterial pressure
mm Hg
lt40 40-54 55-69 70
---
Lowest heart ratemin gt85a 76-85 66-75 56-65 55
a
a occurrence of pathologic bradyarrthymia including sinus arrest atrioventricular block or
dissociation junctional or ventricular escape rhythms and systole also receives 0 points for
lowest heart rate
b lower the cumulative score higher the major complication rates and 30 day mortality rate
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
39
Data such as lowest heart rate and Lowest mean arterial pressures reached during the
procedure are collected from the anesthesiologistrsquos records (electronicmanual)
Estimated blood loss is calculated using the formulae 42
Blood Loss = [(EBV times (Hi - Hf)) ((Hcti + Hctf)2)] + (500 times Tu)
Where 1 Estimated blood volume (EBV) is assumed to be 70 cm3kg
2 Hi and Hf represent pre and post operative haemoglobin
3 Hcti and Hctf represents pre and post operative hematocrit and
4 Tu is the sum of autologous whole blood (AWB) packed red blood cells (PRBC)
and cell saver (CS) units (FFP CRYOPRECIPITATE and APHERESIS) transfused
With an estimate of the probability of the morbidity and mortality status derived from
the apgar score patients are followed up for occurrence of any major complications or death till
30 days postoperatively (30 day mortality) Regular follow ups of all the patients in the study
are performed in the OPD and especially the group with low apgar scores Some of the patients
are followed up by telephonic interview
Relevant clinical investigations either invasive or noninvasive are performed where
physiological parameters indicate development of any organ complications The following
events are considered major complications
1 Acute renal failure
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
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from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
40
2 Bleeding that requires a transfusion of 4U or more of red blood cells within 72 hrs
after surgery
3 Cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation
4 Coma of 24 hrs or longer
5 Deep vein thrombosis
6 Myocardial infarction
7 Unplanned intubation
8 Ventilator use for 48hrs or more
9 Pneumonia
10 Pulmonary embolism
11 Stroke
12 Wound disruption
13 Deep or organ-space surgical site infection
14 Sepsis
15 Septic shock and
16 Systemic inflammatory response syndrome
17 Post op Complications of Clavien class III and greater ie those that require
resurgical endoscopic or radiological reintervention for diagnosis of complications
and those requiring intensive care admission43
( table 3 )
Superficial surgical site infection and urinary tract infection are not considered major
complications
The tabulated data were analyzed
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
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from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
41
Table 3 - Clavein classification of grading the post op events based on the severity of
complications
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
All analyses were performed using the SPSS statistical software version 163 We
analyzed categorical predictors using x2 tests
We performed univariate logistic regression to examine the relationship between major
complication or death and the Surgical Apgar and calculated C statistics with significant p
value of lt005 The results were averaged (mean + standard deviation) for each parameter for
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
42
continuous data and numbers and percentage for categorical data Proportions were compared
using Chi-square test of significance We used x2 tests and the Cochran- Armitage trend test to
evaluate the relationship between the score and the incidence of both outcomes in elective and
emergency surgical groups
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
43
RESULTS
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
44
1 - SEX WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES-
Males accounted for 54 of the patients in the present study
2 - AGE GROUP WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES -
More than 75 of the patients accounting to 292 cases were in the age group of gt 40 years
PIE CHART 1 - SEX DISTRIBUTION
MALE54(216)
FEMALE46(184)
PIE CHART 2 - AGE DISTRIBUTION
lt40 YEARS - 27
40-50 YEARS - 24
50-60 YEARS - 35
gt60 YEARS - 14
Table 4 ndash Sex wise distribution of 400 patients
Sex Number of
patients
Percentage
Male 216 54
Female 184 46
Grand Total 400
Table 5 ndash Age group wise distribution of
400 patients
Age group Number of
patients
Percentage
lt 40 years 108 27
40-50 years 96 24
50-60 years 140 35
gt60 years 56 14
Grand total 400
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
45
3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE YEAR
GROUP
178 of patients (10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4
Only 27 (3 patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of
lt4
905 (144 of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60
years
1 1 1 3 2 3 3 7
16 15 16 19
50
38
54
12
39 39
66
15
05
101520253035404550556065707580859095
100
lt40 yrs(n=108) 40-50 yrs(n=96) 50-60 yrs(n=140) gt60 yrs(n=56)
apgar score 0-2
apgar score 3-4
apgar score 5-6
apgar score 7-8
apgar score 9-10
APGAR SCORE SUBGROUP IN AGE WISE DISTRIBUTION
P
E
R
C
E
N
T
A
G
E
D
I
S
T
R
I
B
U
T
I
O
N
BAR CHART 3 - PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF SURGICAL APGAR SCORE VS AGE
YEAR GROUP
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
46
4 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES VERSUS COMPLICATION RATES
INCLUDING 30 DAY MORTALITY
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) renal failure(19) including acute
renal failure in 114 and intake of steroids (6) and sepsis (16)
Hypertension diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal
failure smoking and sepsis were significantly associated (plt 0001) with postoperative
complications and 30 day mortality Presence of cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity had
no statistical significance correlation (plt01) between disease and complications
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
47
Table 6 - PREOPERATIVE COMORBIDITIES AND THE COMPLICATION RATES
PATIENTS PREOP
COMORBIDITIES
Total no of patients =
400
POST OPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS
NO COMPLICATIONS
No of patients and
percentage
COMPLICATIONS WITH
DEATH
No of patients and
percentage
p value
Obesity(BMIgt25) 80(20) 64(16) lt02
Hypertension 96(24) 240(60) lt0001
Pulmonary disease 20(5) 120(30) lt0001
Cardiovascular
disease
40(10) 120(30) lt0001
Diabetes mellitus 88(22) 152(38) lt0001
Renal failure 24(6) 52(13) lt0001
Sepsis 28(7) 36(9) lt0001
CVATIA 4(1) 12(3) lt01
Smoking 80(20) 172(43) lt0001
Cancer 20(5) 48(12) lt01
Steroid therapy 8(2) 16(4) lt01
Group total 488 1032
Grand total = 1512
plt005 ndash Statistically significant
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
48
5 - TOTAL NO OF ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
7425 of surgeries were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were emergencies amounting
to 14th
of total cases
TABLE 7ndash DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
TYPE OF SURGERIES NO OF PATIENTS PERCENTAGE
ELECTIVE 297 7425
EMERGENCY 103 2575
GRAND TOTAL 400
000
2000
4000
6000
8000
ELECTIVE(n=297) EMERGENCY(n=103)
7425
2575
BAR DIAGRAM 4 - DISTRIBUTION OF CASES INTO ELECTIVE AND EMERGENCY
SURGERIES
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
49
6 - CLASSIFICATION OF SURGERIES WITH COMPLICATION RATES AND 30
DAY MORTALITY
55 of cases were minor and intermediate surgeries and 45 of cases were major and extensive
surgeries Major complications noted at 30 days of post operative period constituted 60 cases
ie 313 and 30 day mortality was 51 Major and extensive surgeries has a complication
rate of 271 and 30 day mortality rate of 4 which is statistically significant(plt0001) Minor
procedures has a complication rate of 42 with 11 30 day mortality rate which is also
significant(plt0001)
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
50
TABLE 8 - Types of surgery and the complication and 30 day mortality
Type of surgery No of cases
Major complications
(Electiveemergency)
30 day mortality
(Elective emergency)
Minor and intermediate 212(55) 9 (42) 2 (11) (plt0001)
Simple alimentary(laparoscopy
and perianal procedures)
114 5 (43)
(14)
2 (17)
(11)
Breast surgery 34 2 (58)
(20)
0
(00)
Thyroid parathyroid and parotid
surgery
16 1 (62)
(10)
0
(00)
Inguinal and paraumbilical
hernia
26 0
(00)
0
(00)
Skin and soft tissue surgery 22 1 (45)
(01)
0
(00)
Major and extensive 188(45) 51 (271) 10 (4) (plt0001)
Complex alimentary and
retroperitoneal
105 25 (238)
(520)
4 (38)
(13)
Ventral herniaincisional hernia 55 13 (236)
(49)
1 (18)
(01)
Hepatobiliary surgery 17 7 (411)
(43)
2 (117)
(11)
Pancreatic surgery 11 6 (544)
(51)
3 (2272)
(21)
GRAND TOTAL 400 60(313) 12(51)
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
51
7 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
783 of cases belonged to high apgar score of 7-10 (ie less complication rates ) and
52 of cases had a low apgar score of lt4 There was a progressive increase in the number of
major complications from 7 in score 9-10 category to 74 in score 0-2 category With the 9-
10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a 121(0-2) 103(3-4)
64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared to the reference
category 30 day mortality was 06 for 9-10 and 50 for 0-2 category A relative risk of
246(0-2) 122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen
with 9-10 as the reference category
50
20
6 12 06
74
55
30
12 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Complications
Deaths
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE IN CATEGORIES
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
BAR DIAGRAM 5 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS
AND 30 DAY MORTALITY
PER
CEN
TAG
E C
OM
PLI
CA
TIO
NS
AN
D D
EATH
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
52
TABLE 9 - SURGICAL APGAR SCORE WITH MAJOR COMPLICATIONS AND 30 DAY
MORTALITY
Surgical Apgar score categories
0-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
No of patients 6(15) 15(37) 66(165) 154(385) 159(397)
Major complications 4(74) 8(55) 19(30) 18(12) 11(7)
Relative risk for major
complications
(95confidence interval)
121 103 64 30 1
[reference
category]
30 day mortality 2(50) 3(20) 4(6) 2(12) 1(06)
Relative risk for 30 day
mortality
(95 confidence
interval)
2464 122 211 148 1
[reference
category]
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
53
8 - PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES
Of the 297 elective procedures 22 cases ie only 74 of cases had 30 day major
complications excluding mortality where as 37 of emergency admissions and surgeries had a
30 day major complications excluding mortality
TABLE 10 ndash PERCENTAGE OF POST OP COMPLICATIONS IN ELECTIVE
AND EMERGENCY SURGERIES
POST OP MAJOR COMPLICATIONS ELECTIVE
CASES
No of cases - 297
EMERGENCY
CASES
No of cases - 103
ACUTE RENAL FAILURE 4 8
TRANSFUSION OF gt4UNITS 0 4
CARDIAC ARREST WITH CPR 1 2
DEEP VEIN THRMBOSIS 1 1
MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION 2 2
PROLONGED VENTILATION(gt48HRS) 0 2
PNEUMONIA 3 7
PULMONARY EMBOLISM 2 0
STROKE 1 0
WOUND DISRUPTION 4 5
DEEP ORGAN SPACE INFECTION 3 4
SEPSIS AND SHOCK 1 3
Grand total 22 74 38 37
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
54
9 - 30 DAY MORTALITY AND MAJOR COMPLICATION IN ELECTIVE AND
EMERGENCY SURGERIES VS SURGICAL APGAR SCORE
Major complications were noted in 50 of 0-2 score group 50 of 3-4 group and 31
of 5-6 score group and were statistically significant(plt00001) 30 day mortality of 50 in 0-2
25 in 3-4 and 22 in 5-6 were also statistically significant No significant association was
seen between higher score of gt7 and the occurrence of major complications
Table 11 - 30 days surgical outcomes for elective surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
ELECTIVE SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES 297
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of major
complications 30
day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 2 11 5050 lt00001
3-4 4 21 5025 lt00001
5-6 45 61 1322 lt00001
7-8 126 70 59 012
9-10 120 60 2
Grand total 297 223
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
55
`Major complications were noted in 75 of 0-2 score group with 25 30 day mortality
66 of 3-4 group with 18 mortality 71 of 5-6 score group with 14 mortality 45 of 7-8
group with 7 mortality and 23 of 9-10 score group with 3 30 day mortality and were
statistically significant(plt00001)
Table 12 - 30 days surgical outcomes for emergency surgery in relation to the surgical
apgar score
EMERGENCY SURGERY ndash NO OF CASES - 103
Surgical
apgar score
No of cases No of major
complications 30
day mortality
Percentage of
major
complications
30 day mortality
p VALUE
0-2 4 31 75 25 lt00001
3-4 11 62 66 18 lt00001
5-6 21 133 7114 lt00001
7-8 28 112 45 7 lt00001
9-10 39 51 23 3 lt00001
Grand total 103 389
plt0001 ndash statistically significant
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
56
DISCUSSION
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
57
DISCUSSION
A simple surgical score based on estimated blood loss lowest HR and lowest MAP
during an operation provides a meaningful estimate of patientrsquos condition and rate of major
complications and death after surgery
All 400 cases admitted in the department of general surgery were evaluated as described
earlier in the methods and methodology All the patients were appropriately assessed and
managed according to standard guidelines for the respective disease
54 of the surgical cases in our study were male patients (table 4) Most of the studies
on the apgar score by Gawande et al and Scott et al show a female preponderance of cases of
56 to 65 in different cohort of study40
However there has been no association between
gender the score and the prognosis in these studies
More than 75 of the patients were in the age group of more than 40years (table 5)
Only 27 of patients belonged to agelt 40 years Similar age distribution with an average of
553 years to 636 years has been noted in previous studies 40
Majority of the complications were noted in the age group gt 50 years 178 of patients
(10 patients of 56) in the age group of gt60 years had low apgar score of lt 4 Only 27 (3
patients of 108) in the younger age group of lt 40 years have low apgar score of lt4 905 (144
of 159 patients) with higher apgar score of 9-10 belong to the age group of lt 60 years (bar chart
3) A study by Gawande et al showed significantly high rates of major complications of 16
with a mean age of 642 years 13
The most common co morbidities noted were hypertension(84) smoking (63)
obesity(36) diabetes mellitus (60) cardiac disease (40) pulmonary disease like COPD
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
58
and Bronchial asthma and reactive airway disease(35) intake of steroids predominantly as
inhalers and tablets for pulmonary and collagen vascular disease(28) renal failure(19)
including acute renal failure in 114 and sepsis secondary to hollow viscus perforation
necrotizing enterocolitis pyocoele of gallbladder and peritonitis(16) (Table 6) Hypertension
diabetes mellitus pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis
were significantly associated with postoperative complications and death in this study(plt0001)
Other studies show similar comorbid conditions associated with poor prognosis 43
Some of the
additional risk factors noted are ASA classgt 3 under weight (BMIlt185) open wound weight
loss gt 10 in 6 months ascites and gangrene 40
No significant difference in the occurrence of the complications or 30 day mortality
noted with cancer steroid therapy CVA and obesity as compared with Scott et al 40
Another
study by Atul gawande et al where a cohort of 303 colectomy cases were analyzed do not show
any significant correlation with BMI cardiovascular disease pulmonary disease preoperative
sepsis malignancy or blood transfusion 13
7425 of surgeries in this study were elective in nature 2575 of surgeries were
emergencies amounting to only 14th
of total cases (table 7) A study on the emergency surgical
admissions by Capewell et al showed that 46 to 57 of all surgical admissions are emergency
in nature44
Majority of the surgeries were minor or intermediate (55) and major or extensive
surgeries were performed in 45 of patients Even after stratifying the patients by the
magnitude of operation the score remained a highly significant predictor of outcome About
42 of minor surgeries had major complications and 11 30 day mortality rate where as
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
59
271 major complications and 4 30day mortality rates were noted with major and extensive
surgeries (table 8)
A Study by Scott et al showed an incidence of major complications in 48 vs 213 in
minor and major surgeries40
A death rate of 04 vs 37 between minor and major surgeries
was seen in a cohort of general surgery Among major surgeries patients with scores of 4 or
less were 65 times more likely to have a major complication (95CI 47-89 plt0001) and
112 times more likely to die (95 CI 1532-819 plt0001) within 30 days of surgery However
even after minor or intermediate surgery score of 4 or less were 228 times more likely to
experience a major complications and 814 times more likely to die( plt0001) 13
Of the 400 patients there was a 51 30 day mortality 313 major complications (lt
30 days) and 32(8) had minor complications with 306(77) having no complications Mean
surgical apgar score was 785(+-149SD) The difference in surgical outcome between patients
in different score group was also statistically significant Among the 21(52) patients with
surgical apgar score of lt4 major complications occurred in 571 and a 30 day mortality of
238 was seen In contrast among 159(397) patients with surgical apgar score of 9-10
only 69 suffered a major complication and only 06 patient succumbed within 30 days (bar
diagram 5)
With the 9-10 category taken as a reference for assessing the relative risk there was a
121(0-2) 103(3-4) 64(5-6) and 3(7-8) times the risk of developing complications compared
to the reference category Considering 9-10 as the reference category a relative risk of 246(0-2)
122(3-4) 211(5-6) and 148(7-8) for the occurrence of 30 day mortality was seen (table 9)
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
60
It was also noted that in every 2 point score category the incidence of both major
complications and death was significantly greater than that of patients in the next- higher
category(plt0001) A similar result with a relative risk of major complication amongst low
scored operations was 161(95 CI 77-340plt00001) compared with those in the high
scored operation was noted in the study by Atul A Gawande et al 13
The most common complication noted in the study was 1) acute renal failure (20) 2)
post of pneumonia (166) 3) wound disruption (15) 4)deep or organ space surgical site
infection (116) 5)Myocardial infarction(4) and 5) sepsis(4)(table 10)
Four patients required transfusion of gt4 units of packed cell in a day and 2 of them
succumbed due to Disseminated intravascular coagulation Of the 12 deaths in the study period
9 patients died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to cardiovascular event ARDS and sepsis 2 died
of disseminated intravascular coagulation and a patient succumbed due to cerebrovascular
accident
The relative risk of predicting a major complication was significantly higher in all the
subgroups of the apgar score for emergency surgeries as compared to its elective surgeries
where the statistical power was limited by the lowest scores (table 11 and table 12) Study by
Atul gawande etal showed a statistically significant result with an odds ratio of 48(95 CI
241-957) for emergency procedures 13
Other studies have shown complication rates of 43
and a mortality of 4 in emergency GI procedures45
In this regard even the P-POSSUM has no morbidity prediction equation as a result of
the original authorsrsquo lack of confidence in the reporting of perioperative complications46
Subsequent studies have shown P-POSSUM to both over-predict and under-predict mortality
47
in different settings
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
61
A study by Knaus WA et al on APACHE III risk prediction model have shown that the
overall predictive accuracy of the first-day APACHE III equation within 24 h of ICU admission
following a major surgery would be given a risk estimate for hospital death that was within 3
percent 48
INFERENCE ndash
The age group selected ranged from 15 to 75 years In this study patients with age group
of more than 40 years constituted majority of the surgical population constituting more than
75
There was no significant difference in the sex wise distribution of surgical cases
This study showed that 178 of the operated patients in the age group more than 60
years had a low surgical apgar score of less than 4 This indicated that the older age groups had
low apgar score and hence the increased incidence of a major complication or 30 day mortality
than younger population with similar low apgar score
It was seen in this study that Comorbidities like Hypertension diabetes mellitus
pulmonary disease cardiac disease chronic renal failure smoking and sepsis were significantly
associated (plt 0001) with postoperative complications and 30 day mortality However cancer
steroid therapy CVA and obesity had no significance correlation with the complications or
mortality
This study witnessed that surgical apgar score of less than 2 had a relative risk of 121
for the occurrence of major complications and a relative risk of 246 for 30 day mortality
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
62
34th
of cases in this study were operated on elective basis with only 26 of emergency
surgical procedures
There was a higher incidence of major complications in the surgical procedures done on
emergency basis than the elective surgeries However it was evident in this study that the major
complications and 30 day mortality were seen to be higher in emergency surgical groups
compared with the elective surgical groups with respect to all the 5 subcategories of Apgar
score Further study need to be conducted on the emergency subgroups in particular for it to be
validated
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
63
CONCLUSION
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
64
CONCLUSION
1) In this study surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection
of the complications
2) Patients more than 40 years have Low surgical apgar scores after any general surgical
procedure and hence are at risk for major complications including high mortality
3) Comorbidities like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus cardiovascular
pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were found to be significant preoperative factors
associated with higher chances of complications
4) Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require ICU monitoring or would require
admission in the hospital even if undergoing a day care procedure
5) Complications rates are five times higher in emergency surgeries in comparison to
elective cases
6) 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of
complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
65
SUMMARY
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
66
SUMMARY
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of surgical apgar score in predicting
the morbidity and 30 day mortality in various general surgical procedures It was also studied
for the effectiveness of the score in predicting the morbidity and 30 day mortality in elective
and emergency surgeries
400 surgical cases admitted in the department of general surgery at MSRamaiah
hospitals underwent surgical procedures which were categorized into minor and major surgeries
based on classification of arvindsonn et al At the end of each procedure surgical apgar score
was calculated using the parameters like lowest heart rate lowest mean arterial pressure and
estimated blood loss
Patients with more than 40 years had low surgical apgar scores at the end of surgical
procedure This group of patients was at higher risk of having a major complication or death
during the follow up period
Patients with certain comorbid factors like Smoking hypertension diabetes mellitus
cardiovascular pulmonary renal failure and sepsis were at risk of having a major complication
or death during the follow up period All Patients with Low surgical Apgar score would require
ICU monitoring or would require admission in the hospital even if the patient underwent a day
care procedure
Patients who underwent emergency surgeries irrespective of the surgical apgar scores
had 5 times higher complications and 30 day mortality in comparison with the patients who
underwent an elective surgery
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
67
In emergency surgeries patients with all subgroup of scores had higher rates of
complications and 30 day mortality In elective surgeries lower scores of less than 7 had higher
rates of complications and 30 day mortality in comparison to scores of more than 7
This study there by concluded that the surgical apgar score which is a 10-point score
based on the lowest HR lowest MAP and EBL discriminated well between groups of patients
at high risk and lower-than-average risk of major complications and death within 30 days of the
surgery The score also served as a simple aid in communication among surgeons post
anesthesia care providers surgical residents and ICU OR surgical ward staff regarding patientsrsquo
immediate postoperative status It also helped to convey to the attenders about the condition and
prognosis after surgery
Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical
decision support tool
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
68
BIBILOGRAPHY
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
69
BIBILOGRAPHY
1 Vincent C Moorthy K Sarker SK et al Systems approaches to surgical quality and safety
from concept to measurement Ann Surg 2004239(4)475ndash82
2 Fink AS Campbell DA Jr Mentzer RM Jr et al The National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program in non-veterans administration hospitals initial demonstration of
feasibility Ann Surg 2002236(3)344ndash53 discussion 353ndash4
3 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al The National Veterans Administration Surgical Risk
Study risk adjustment for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care J Am Coll
Surg 1995180(5)519ndash31
4 Khuri SF Daley J Henderson W et al Risk adjustment of the postoperative mortality rate
for the comparative assessment of the quality of surgical care results of the National Veterans
Affairs Surgical Risk Study J Am Coll Surg 1997185(4)315ndash27
5 Hartley MN Sagar PM The surgeonrsquos lsquogut feelingrsquo as a predictor of post-operative outcome
Ann R Coll Surg Engl 199476(6 Suppl)277ndash8
6 Julie A Margenthaler MD Walter E Longo MD et al Risk Factors for Adverse Outcomes
Following Surgery for Small Bowel Obstruction Ann Surg 2006 April 243(4) 456ndash464
7 Mauney FM Jr Ebert PA Sabiston DC Jr Postoperative myocardial infarction a study of
predisposing factors diagnosis and mortality in a high risk group of surgical patients Ann Surg
1970172(3)497ndash503
8 Reich DL Bodian CA Krol M et al Intraoperative hemodynamic predictors of mortality
stroke and myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass surgery Anesth Analg
199989(4)814ndash22
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
70
9 Rohrig R Junger A Hartmann B et al The incidence and prediction of automatically
detected intraoperative cardiovascular events in noncardiac surgery Anesth Analg
200498(3)569ndash77
10 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
11 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash60
12 Greenberg CC Roth EM Sheridan TB et al Making the operating room of the future safer
Am Surg 200672(11)1102ndash8 discussion 1126ndash48
13 Gawande AA Kwaan MR Regenbogen SE et al An Apgar Score for Surgery J Am Coll
Surg 2007204(2)201ndash208
14 Apgar V A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant Curr Res
Anesth Analg 195332(4)260ndash7
15 Charlson ME MacKenzie CR Gold JP et al Preoperative characteristics predicting
intraoperative hypotension and hypertension among hypertensives and diabetics undergoing
noncardiac surgery Ann Surg 1990212(1)66ndash81
16 Delilkan AE Comparison of subjective estimates by surgeons and anaesthetists of operative
blood loss Br Med J 19722(5814)619-621
17 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Acutely ill patients in hospital
recognition of and response to acute illness in adults in hospital London National Institute for
Health and Clinical Excellence 2007
18 Markus PM Martell J Leister I Horstmann O Brinker J Becker H Predicting post-
operative morbidity by clinical assessment Br J Surg 200592(1)101ndash106
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
71
19 Wolters U Wolf T Stutzer H Schroder T ASA classification and perioperative variables as
predictors of post-operative outcome Br J Anaesth 199677(2)217ndash222
20 Lee A Lum ME ORegan WJ Hillman KM Early post-operative emergencies requiring an
intensive care team intervention The role of ASA physical status and after-hours surgery
Anaesthesia 199853(6)529ndash535
21 Hall JC Hall JL ASA status and age predict adverse events after abdominal surgery J Qual
Clin Pract 199616(2)103ndash108
22 Saklad M Grading of patients for surgical procedures Anesthesiology 19412281ndash284
23 Goldhill DR Preventing surgical deaths critical care and intensive care outreach services in
the post-operative period Br J Anaesth 200595(1)88ndash94
24 Owens WD Felts JA Spitznagel EL Jr ASA physical status classifications a study of
consistency of ratings Anesthesiology197849(4)239ndash243
25 Sutton R Bann S Brooks M Sarin S The Surgical Risk Scale as an improved tool for risk-
adjusted analysis in comparative surgical audit Br J Surg 200289(6)763ndash768
26 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 200592(10)1288ndash1292
27 Knaus WA Zimmerman JE Wagner DP Draper EA Lawrence DE APACHE-acute
physiology and chronic health evaluation a physiologically based classification system Crit
Care Med 19819(8)591ndash7
28 Goffi L Saba V Ghiselli R Necozione S Mattei A Carle F Preoperative APACHE II and
ASA scores in patients having major general surgical operations prognostic value and potential
clinical applications Eur J Surg 1999165(8)730ndash735
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
72
29 Le Gall JR Lemeshow S Saulnier F A new Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II)
based on a EuropeanNorth American multicenter study JAMA 1993270(24)2957ndash2963
30 Teres D Lemeshow S Avrunin JS Pastides H Validation of the mortality prediction model
for ICU patients Crit Care Med 198715(3)208ndash213
31 Shann F Mortality prediction model is preferable to APACHE BMJ 2000320(7236)714-37
32 Kramer AA Assessing contemporary intensive care unit outcome an updated Mortality
Probability Admission Model (MPM0-III) Crit Care Med 200735(3)827ndash835
33 Copeland GP Jones D Walters M POSSUM a scoring system for surgical audit Br J Surg
199178(3)355ndash360
34 Lagarde SM Maris AK de Castro SM Busch OR Obertop H van Lanschot JJ Evaluation
of O-POSSUM in predicting inhospital mortality after resection for oesophageal cancer Br J
Surg 200794(12)1521ndash1526
35 Vather R Zargar-Shoshtari K Adegbola S Hill AG Comparison of the possum P-
POSSUM and Cr-POSSUM scoring systems as predictors of post-operative mortality in patients
undergoing major colorectal surgery ANZ J Surg 200676(9)812ndash816
36 Whiteley MS Prytherch DR Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG An evaluation of the
POSSUM surgical scoring system Br J Surg 199683(6)812ndash815
37 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B Weaver PC Prout WG Powell SJ POSSUM and
Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for
the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 199885 (9)1217ndash1220
38 Haga Y Ikei S Wada Y Takeuchi H Sameshima H Kimura O et al Evaluation of an
Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress (E-PASS) scoring system to predict
postoperative risk a multicenter prospective study Surg Today 200131(7)569ndash574
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
73
39 Haga Y Wada Y Takeuchi H Kimura O Furuya T Sameshima H et al Estimation of
physiologic ability and surgical stress (EPASS) for a surgical audit in elective digestive surgery
Surgery 2004135(6)586ndash594
40 Scott E Regenbogen Jesse M Ehrenfeld Stuart R Lipsitz Caprice C Greenberg Matthew M
Hutter Atul A Gawande Utility of the Surgical Apgar Score Validation in 4119 Patients Arch
Surg 2009144(1)30-36
41 Arvidsson S Ouchterlony J Sjostedt L Svardsudd K Predicting postoperative adverse
events clinical efficiency of four general classification systems the project perioperative risk
Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 199640(7)783-791
42 T Casey McCullough Jonathan V Roth Phillip C Ginsberg Richard C Harkaway
Estimated Blood Loss Underestimates Calculated Blood Loss during Radical Retropubic
Prostatectomy Urol Int 20047213-16
43 Dindo D Demartines N Clavien PA Classification of surgical complications a new
proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey Ann Surg
2004240(2)205-213
44 Capewell S The continuing rise in emergency admissions Bmj 1996 312(7037)991-992
45 Schwesinger WH Page CP Gaskill HV 3rd Steward RM Chopra S Strodel WE Sirinek
KR Operative management of diverticular emergencies Strategies and outcomes Arch Surg
2000 135558-563
46 Prytherch DR Whiteley MS Higgins B et al POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for
predicting mortality Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of
Mortality and morbidity Br J Surg 1998851217-20
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
74
47 Brooks MJ Sutton R Sarin S Comparison of Surgical Risk Score POSSUM and p-
POSSUM in higher-risk surgical patients Br J Surg 2005921288-92
48 Wong DT Knaus WA The APACHE III prognostic system Risk prediction of hospital
mortality for critically ill hospitalized adults Can J Anaesth 1991 38 374-83
49 Hartmann B Junger A Rohrig R et al Intra-operative tachycardia and peri-operative
outcome Langenbecks Arch Surg 2003388(4)255ndash60
50 Gatch WD Little WD Amount of blood lost during some of the more common operations
JAMA 1924831075ndash1076
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
75
ANNEXURE
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -
76
PROFORMA
NAME ndash AGE ndash SEX -
ADDRESS - TELEPHONE NO ndash
OCCUPATION-
FINAL PREOP DIAGNOSIS-
COMORBIDITIES-
SURGICAL PROCEDURE EXECUTED-
ELECTIVE EMERGENCY
MINOR MAJOR PREOP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
POST OP HEMOGLOBIN AND HEMATOCRIT-
LOWEST HEART RATE-
LOWEST MEAN ARTERIAL PRESSURE-
ESTIMATED BLOOD LOSS-
SURGICAL APGAR SCORE-
POST OP COMPLICATIONS-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
MORTALITY-
lt24 HRS lt1 WEEK UPTO 30 DAYS
CAUSE OF DEATH -