Failure to Rescue Rates After Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting: An Analysis From The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Adult Cardiac Surgery Database

Background Failure to rescue (FTR) is increasingly recognized as an important quality indicator in surgery. The Society of Thoracic Surgeons National Database was used to develop FTR metrics and a predictive FTR model for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Methods The study included 604,154 patients undergoing isolated CABG at 1,105 centers from January 2010 to January 2014. FTR was defined as death after four complications: stroke, renal failure, reoperation, and prolonged ventilation. FTR was determined for each complication and a composite of the four complications. A statistical model to predict FTR was developed. Results FTR rates were 22.3% for renal failure, 16.4% for stroke, 12.4% for reoperation, 12.1% for prolonged ventilation, and 10.5% for the composite. Mortality increased with multiple complications and with specific combinations of complications. The multivariate risk model for prediction of FTR demonstrated a C index of 0.792 and was well calibrated, with a 1.0% average difference between observed/expected (O/E) FTR rates. With centers grouped into mortality terciles, complication rates increased modestly (11.4% to 15.7%), but FTR rates more than doubled (6.8% to 13.9%) from the lowest to highest terciles. Centers in the lowest complication rate tercile had an FTR O/E of 1.14, whereas centers in the highest complication rate tercile had an FTR O/E of 0.91. Conclusions CABG mortality rates vary directly with FTR, but complication rates have little relation to death. FTR rates derived from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons data can serve as national benchmarks. Predicted FTR rates may facilitate patient counseling, and FTR O/E ratios have promise as valuable quality metrics.