Publicaciones científicas

An International Expert Delphi Consensus on Defining Textbook Outcome in Liver Surgery (TOLS)

10-ago-2022 | Revista: Annals of Surgery

Burak Görgec  1   2   3   4 , Andrea Benedetti Cacciaguerra  1   4   5 , Timothy M Pawlik  6 , Luca A Aldrighetti  7 , Adnan A Alseidi  8 , Umberto Cillo  9 , Norihiro Kokudo  10 , David A Geller  11 , Go Wakabayashi  12 , Horacio J Asbun  13 , Marc G Besselink  2   3 , Daniel Cherqui  14 , Tan To Cheung  15 , Pierre-Alain Clavien  16 , Claudius Conrad  17 , Mathieu D'Hondt  18 , Ibrahim Dagher  19 , Christos Dervenis  20 , John Devar  21   22 , Elijah Dixon  23 , Bjørn Edwin  24   25 , Mikhail Efanov  26 , Giuseppe M Ettore  27 , Alessandro Ferrero  28 , Constantino Fondevilla  29 , David Fuks  30 , Felice Giuliante  31 , Ho-Seong Han  32 , Goro Honda  33 , Oscar Imventarza  34   35 , David A Kooby  36 , Peter Lodge  37 , Santiago Lopez-Ben  38 , Marcel A Machado  39 , Hugo P Marques  40 , Nick O'Rourke  41 , Juan Pekolj  42 , Antonio D Pinna  43 , Nazario Portolani  44 , John Primrose  4 , Fernando Rotellar  45 , Andrea Ruzzenente  46 , Erik Schadde  47   48   49 , Ajith K Siriwardena  50 , Sameer Smadi  51 , Olivier Soubrane  52 , Kenneth K Tanabe  53 , Catherine S C Teh  54 , Guido Torzilli  55 , Thomas M Van Gulik  2   3 , Marco Vivarelli  5 , Stephen J Wigmore  56 , Mohammad Abu Hilal  1   4


Objective: To reach global expert consensus on the definition of TOLS in minimally invasive and open liver resection among renowned international expert liver surgeons using a modified Delphi method.

Summary background data: Textbook outcome is a novel composite measure combining the most desirable postoperative outcomes into one single measure and representing the ideal postoperative course. Despite a recently developed international definition of Textbook Outcome in Liver Surgery (TOLS), a standardized and expert consensus-based definition is lacking.

Methods: This international, consensus-based, qualitative study used a Delphi process to achieve consensus on the definition of TOLS. The survey comprised 6 surgical domains with a total of 26 questions on individual surgical outcome variables. The process included 4 rounds of online questionnaires. Consensus was achieved when a threshold of at least 80% agreement was reached. Results from the Delphi rounds were used to establish an international definition of TOLS.

Results: In total, 44 expert liver surgeons from 22 countries and all three major international hepato-pancreato-biliary associations completed round 1. Forty-two (96%), 41 (98%) and 41 (98%) of the experts participated in round 2, 3 and 4, respectively. The TOLS definition derived from the consensus process included the absence of intraoperative grade ≥2 incidents, postoperative bile leakage grade B/C, postoperative liver failure grade B/C, 90-day major postoperative complications, 90-day readmission due to surgery-related major complications, 90-day/in-hospital mortality and the presence of R0 resection margin.

Conclusions: This is the first study providing an international expert consensus-based definition of TOLS for minimally invasive and open liver resections by use of a formal Delphi consensus approach. TOLS may be useful in assessing patient-level hospital performance and carrying out international comparisons between centers with different clinical practices to further improve patient outcomes.

CITA DEL ARTÍCULO  Ann Surg. 2022 Aug 10.  doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000005668