The value of a mortality-scoring system in the quality control of patients undergoing abdominal aortic surgery.

Abstract Objectives to assess the quality of care of patients undergoing abdominal aortic surgery. Materials three hundred and forty-six patients undergoing surgery for aneurysmal or occlusive disease of whom 51 died. Methods we developed a mortality registration system to classify causes of death, to evaluate shortcomings in treatment, and to determine the extent of agreement between clinical diagnosis and necropsy findings. Results the main cause of death for 11 patients (22%) was a poor clinical condition at admission, while 76% ( n =39) of the patients died due to postoperative complications. Myocardial infarction was the most frequently encountered complication. Deficiencies in medical treatment were observed in 10 of the 51 deaths (20%). Autopsy was performed in 33 of the 51 patients (65%), revealing in 10 cases (30%) a major discrepancy between pre- and postmortem findings. Six of the 10 autopsies revealed that a myocardial infarction had been missed during the postoperative period. Conclusions autopsy reports are essential for accurately estimating complication rates as we observed discrepancies in 30% of cases.