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Overlapping surgery, where a surgeon has two procedures going at the same time, is generally safe according to new research.
The new study reviewed 66,000 common surgeries, of which nearly 8,000 were overlapping, including joint replacement, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, spine surgery, and craniotomy.
The researchers found that overlapping surgery did not create significant differences in in-hospital mortality or postoperative complication rates.
However, the study found that overlapping operations significantly increased surgery duration, with an adjusted length of 204 minutes compared to 173 minutes.
Prior studies on overlapping surgery showed mixed records on its safety for patients.
An extreme form of overlapping surgery, known as concurrent surgery, where a surgeon may be absent during critical portions of an operation has already been deemed inappropriate by professional societies and insurers.
The study was published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Read more from the authors at Stat News.
