2004 Volume 16 Issue 4 Pages 267-273
The aim of this study was to assess analysis of variance of clinical pathways for large bowel cancer patients using the scoring system physiological and operative severity score for the enumeration of mortality and morbidity (POSSUM), which predicts postoperative morbidity and mortality. Large bowel cancer cases performed in our department between January 2002 and March 2004 were studied. These were divided into three groups : group one consisted of 48 patients without variance ; group two consisted of 13 patients without variance and with complications ; and group three consisted of 13 patients with variance. The average postoperative complication risk predicted by POSSUM was 34.4%. Observed complications were recorded in 26 out of 74 patients (35.1%), and variance developed in 13 of these 26 patients. There were no differences in the PS and OSS scores between patients with and without variance. Predicting the occurrence of variance using POSSUM is difficult as many factors can influence the development of variance. Therefore, POSSUM is unlikely to be a suitable scoring system for predicting which patients will develop variance.
