In‐hospital mortality and failure‐to‐rescue rates after radical cystectomy

Objective To show the underlying variability in peri-operative mortality after radical cystectomy (RC) by analysing failure-to-rescue (FTR) rates, i.e. deaths after complications. Materials and Methods Patients undergoing RC for non-metastatic bladder cancer (BCa) were identified from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, 1999–2009, resulting in a weighted estimate of 79 972 patients. The FTR rates were assessed according to patient and hospital characteristics, as well as complication type. Generalized linear regression analyses were performed. Results Overall, 26 740 patients had a complication, corresponding to a FTR rate of 5.5%. Septicaemia (odds ratio [OR]: 13.41, P < 0.001) and cardiac (OR: 3.97, P < 0.001), wound-related (OR: 2.12, P < 0.001), genitourinary (OR: 1.62, P = 0.045) and haematological (OR: 1.78, P = 0.008) complications were associated with FTR. Older age (OR: 1.05, P < 0.001), increasing comorbidities (OR: 1.33, P < 0.001), Medicare (OR: 1.52, P = 0.016), and Medicaid insurance status (OR: 2.10, P = 0.029) were associated with higher odds of FTR. Conversely, increasing hospital volume (OR: 0.992, P = 0.014) reduced the odds of FTR. Conclusions Whereas both patient and hospital characteristics were associated with increased odds of FTR, the occurrence of septicaemia and cardiac complications were the most strongly associated with a higher risk of in-hospital mortality.