Predictors of Short-term Morbidity and Mortality in Open Anterior Skull Base Surgery

Objectives/Hypothesis To describe rates of complications and mortality within 30 days of open anterior skull base surgery using a large, multi-institutional outcomes database. Study Design Retrospective cohort study. Methods The study included patients who underwent open anterior skull base surgery as listed in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Project database from 2007 through 2014. Results A total of 336 open anterior skull base surgeries were identified. One hundred nine (32.4%) patients experienced a complication, reoperation, or mortality. The most common events were postoperative transfusion (15.8%), reoperation (10.1%), and readmission (8.0%). Significant independent predictors of any adverse event included higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score and increased total operative time (both P < .05). The only predictor of mortality was higher ASA score (P = .02). Predictors of increased hospital stay included impaired sensorium (P = .04), coma >24 hours (P < .001), lower preoperative hematocrit (P = .02), higher ASA score (P = .04), and increased total operative time (P < .001). Conclusions Open anterior skull base surgery is understandably complex, and is thus associated with a relatively high adverse event rate. Knowledge of factors associated with adverse events has the potential to improve preoperative optimization of controllable variables and translate into improved surgical outcomes for patients.