Introduction:

morbidity and mortality rates allow for the evaluation of the quality of care and outcome and they also make it possible to compare different healthcare centers. This is the first morbidity and mortality study in neurosurgery carried out in Uruguay.

Objective:

to determine the global and specific morbidity and mortality rates in the Neurosurgery Department at the Clínicas University Hospital, and to determine if mortality and morbidity are associated to surgical complications.

Method:

retrospective, longitudinal, observational and descriptive analysis of all patients >15 years old that underwent a neurosurgical procedure between April 2017 and 2019. Data were obtained from patient medical records. The following variables were analyzed: age, sex, comorbidity, clinical data, diagnosis, opportunity of surgical procedure, complications, type of complication, mortality, cause of mortality, outcome and surgical time.

Results:

477 patients underwent neurosurgical procedure, 72 of which were complicated surgeries. Overall mortality was 5.5% (26/477) and morbidity 15% (72/477). 36% of complicated patients died (26/72). Vascular pathology was the specific morbidity that complicated patients the most 20% (14/69). Infection was the most frequent type of complication 46% (39/84). The evolution of the disease itself and the terrain caused the death of 90% of complicated patients undergoing emergency surgery (19/21), being the latter an independent risk factor for death (p = 0.018).

As to coordinated surgeries, the cause of death was associated to the surgical act (80%). Association was found between vascular pathology and morbidity and mortality (p = 0.015) and between ischemic complication and morbidity and mortality (p = 0.024). The presence of intracranial hypertension (IH) was associated with a bad outcome (p= 0.003).

Conclusions:

the results show a good quality of care compared to other centers. There are still aspects to correct to reduce morbidity and mortality rates.

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