New research published in the December issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons finds that the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) is a powerful tool for assessing outcomes of uncommon, high-risk surgical procedures, including pancreatic necrosectomy. This is the first time that national data on this particular procedure has been available and analyzed, and the data from ACS NSQIP showed that patients undergoing pancreatic necrosectomy had better outcomes than predicted.
Necrotizing pancreatitis is the most severe form of acute pancreatitis, an infection or inflammation of the pancreas. The surgical management of patients with pancreatic necrosis has evolved over the last 20 years due to improved medical management and delayed surgical intervention, which has contributed to the reduced mortality rates in severe pancreatitis. However, most published literature comes from single-institution studies with relatively small numbers of patients, and no North American data previously existed regarding the outcomes of patients undergoing pancreatic necrosectomy (the removal of dead, or "necrosed," tissue in the pancreas).
ACS NSQIP is a nationally validated, outcomes-based, risk-adjusted, peer-controlled program for the measurement and enhancement of quality surgical care. In 2007, a new Current Procedural Terminology- (CPT) code for debridement of pancreatic and peripancreatic necrosis became available. The CPT- code set is used to describe medical, surgical, and diagnostic services in order to communicate uniform information about medical services and procedures among physicians, coders, patients, accreditation organizations, and payers for administrative, financial and analytical purposes.