ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: For many cancer resections, a hospital volume-outcome relationship exists. The data regarding gastric cancer resection-especially in the western hemisphere-are ambiguous. This study analyzes the impact of gastric cancer surgery caseload per hospital on postoperative mortality and failure to rescue in Germany. METHODS: All patients diagnosed with gastric cancer from 2009 to 2017 who underwent gastric resection were identified from nation-wide administrative data. Hospitals were grouped into five equal caseload quintiles (I-V in ascending caseload order). Postoperative deaths and failure to rescue were determined. RESULTS: Forty-six thousand one hundred eighty-seven patients were identified. There was a significant shift from partial resections in low-volume hospitals to more extended resections in high-volume centers. The overall in-house mortality rate was 6.2%. The crude in-hospital mortality rate ranged from 7.9% in quintile I to 4.4% in quintile V, with a significant trend between volume categories (p < 0.001). In the multivariable logistic regression analysis, quintile V hospitals (average of 29 interventions/year) had a risk-adjusted odds ratio of 0.50 (95% CI 0.39-0.65), compared to the baseline in-house mortality rate in quintile I (on average 1.5 interventions/year) (p < 0.001). In an analysis only evaluating hospitals with more than 30 resections per year mortality dropped below 4%. The overall postoperative complication rate was comparable between different volume quintiles, but failure to rescue (FtR) decreased significantly with increasing caseload. CONCLUSION: Patients who had gastric cancer surgery in hospitals with higher volume had better outcomes and a reduced failure to rescue rates for severe complications.
