ABSTRACT
Background: There is a need for an accurate risk scoring system to predict surgical outcomes. POSSUM (Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity) and its modification P-POSSUM use a physiological score and an operative severity score to calculate risks of mortality and morbidity. In present study we have tried to assess the accuracy of P-POSSUM in predicting mortality and morbidity in general surgical patients.Methods:Total 50 Patients, undergoing major general surgical procedures were scored according to their physiological parameters and the intra-operative findings and a final expected mortality rate was calculated using P-POSSUM equation and compared with actual outcomes.Result: The mean P-POSSUM score of the patients, in whom actual morbidity was observed, was found to be 61.82, compared tomean P-POSSUM score in the remaining cases where there was no observed morbidity was 39.51, significantly lower than the previous group (36%).Similarly the mean P-POSSUM score of the patients, in whom actual mortality was observed, was foundto be 76.01. Whereas mean P-POSSUM score in the remaining cases where there was no observed mortality was 33.16, significantly lower than the previous group (56%).Conclusion:This study validates the Portsmouth possum scoring system in our setup as a valid means ofpredicting mortality and morbidity following major surgery. It is a scoring system tailored to assess patients undergoingmajor surgeries and help in risk assessmentof the patients with respect to both mortality and morbidity.