TY - JOUR
T1 - Lung Cancer Resection Volume
T2 - Is Procedure Volume Really an Indicator of Quality?
AU - Kozower, Benjamin D.
AU - Stukenborg, George J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality ( K080HS18049 , Kozower and R010HS017693-01A1 , Stukenborg).
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - The majority of lung cancer resection studies indicate that hospital and surgeon procedure volume are inversely associated with mortality. It makes intuitive sense that performing large numbers of these procedures leads to better outcomes. However, controversy exists regarding the strength and validity of this volume-outcome association. Because thresholds of procedure volume are used to recommend the regionalization of care, investigation of the volume-outcome relationship is imperative. This review will examine the methodology used in the volume-outcome relationship literature and highlight important areas of concern. Careful examination of the literature demonstrates that lung cancer resection volume is not strongly associated with mortality and should not be used as a proxy measure for quality.
AB - The majority of lung cancer resection studies indicate that hospital and surgeon procedure volume are inversely associated with mortality. It makes intuitive sense that performing large numbers of these procedures leads to better outcomes. However, controversy exists regarding the strength and validity of this volume-outcome association. Because thresholds of procedure volume are used to recommend the regionalization of care, investigation of the volume-outcome relationship is imperative. This review will examine the methodology used in the volume-outcome relationship literature and highlight important areas of concern. Careful examination of the literature demonstrates that lung cancer resection volume is not strongly associated with mortality and should not be used as a proxy measure for quality.
KW - Hospital volume
KW - Lung cancer resection
KW - Outcome relationship
KW - Regionalization of care
KW - Surgeon volume
KW - Volume
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84865371644&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1053/j.semtcvs.2012.06.007
DO - 10.1053/j.semtcvs.2012.06.007
M3 - Article
C2 - 22920524
AN - SCOPUS:84865371644
SN - 1043-0679
VL - 24
SP - 93
EP - 98
JO - Seminars in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
JF - Seminars in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
IS - 2
ER -