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Short Hospital Stays After Lung Surgery Do Not Up Readmissions

Findings based on one- to two-day length of stay versus three to five days after anatomic lung resection

FRIDAY, April 19, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- In patients treated within an advanced recovery pathway, early discharge after anatomic lung resection does not increase the risk for readmission, according to a study recently published online in Innovations: Technology and Techniques in Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery.

Guillaume S. Chevrollier, M.D., from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, and colleagues used a lung resection database to identify 296 patients undergoing minimally invasive lobectomy and segmentectomy (January 2010 to March 2017). Thirty-day readmissions were compared between patients with short lengths of stay (one to two days) versus average lengths of stay (three to five days).

The researchers observed a threefold increased rate of readmission in the group with average length of stay (9 percent) versus the group with short length of stay (3 percent; P < 0.01). Patients with average length of stay had increased rates of preoperative chemotherapy (13 versus 4 percent; P < 0.01) and radiation (12 versus 3 percent) at baseline. They also had higher rates of lobectomy (95 versus 86 percent; P = 0.02) and postoperative complications (31 versus 4 percent; P < 0.01). Patients with average length of stay had a nonsignificant 2.3-fold greater risk for readmission (odds ratio, 2.33; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.6 to 9.02; P = 0.22) in multivariable analysis.

"Early discharge following minimally invasive anatomic lung resection does not increase the risk of hospital readmission in patients treated within an enhanced recovery pathway," the authors write.

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