Redefining Mortality After Pancreatic Cancer Resection

Introduction Distinct outcome measures such as in-hospital and 30-day mortality have been used to evaluate pancreatectomy results. We posited that these measures could be compared using national data, providing more precision for evaluating published outcomes after pancreatectomy. Methods Patients undergoing resection for pancreatic cancer were identified from the linked SEER-Medicare databases (1991–2002). Mortality was analyzed and trend tests were utilized to evaluate risk of death within ≤60 days of resection and from 60 days to 2 years post-resection. Univariate analysis assessed patient characteristics such as race, gender, marital status, socioeconomic status, hospital teaching status, and complications. Results One thousand eight hundred forty-seven resected patients were identified: 7.7% ( n = 142) died within the first 30 days, 83.6% of whom died during the same hospitalization. Postoperative in-hospital mortality was 8.1% ( n = 150), 79% of which was within 30 days, greater than 90% of which was within 60 days. Risk of death decreased significantly over the first 60 days ( P