THURSDAY, Sept. 29, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- The outcomes of surgeries do not differ for procedures performed by male or female gastrointestinal surgeons, according to a study published online Sept. 28 in The BMJ.
Kae Okoshi, M.D., Ph.D., from Japan Baptist Hospital in Kyoto, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study using data from the Japanese National Clinical Database and the Japanese Society of Gastroenterological Surgery to examine the association between surgeons' gender and surgery-related mortality and surgical complications. Male and female surgeons who performed distal gastrectomy, total gastrectomy, and low anterior resection were included, with a total of 149,193 distal gastrectomy surgeries (94.5 percent male surgeons), 63,417 gastrectomy surgeries (94.5 percent male surgeons), and 81,593 low anterior resection procedures (95.4 percent male surgeons).
The researchers found that female surgeons had fewer postregistration years, operated on patients at higher risk, and performed fewer laparoscopic surgeries compared with male surgeons on average. There was no significant difference observed between male and female surgeons in the adjusted risk for surgical mortality, surgical mortality combined with Clavien-Dindo ≥3 complications, pancreatic fistula, or anastomotic leakage.
"Female Japanese surgeons took on high risk cases, and no significant differences existed in surgical mortality or Clavien-Dindo ≥3 complication rates between patients operated on by male or female surgeons," the authors write.
Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
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