Is Death Always a Risk During Surgery? Key Facts to Know Before Going Under the Knife

If

you are considering surgery, you should be aware that there is always a risk of death due to the procedure or anesthesia that the doctors give you during the procedure. According to doctors, surgeries inherently carry dangers like bleeding or infection and sometimes even complications, even though this risk varies depending on the health of the patient, the type of surgery, and the setting, with modern medicine drastically lowering it, but never eliminating it. And that is why you never take surgery lightly, as the possibility of death is very real - even with minor dental procedures.

Which surgeries are high-risk?

Some kinds of procedures carry a much higher risk level than others - during some open-heart surgeries, your heart is actually stopped for almost an hour before the surgeon and their team restart it. That surgery has a higher risk than carpal tunnel surgery, which is performed on a patient’s hand and wrist, often in an outpatient surgery center.

What all does a surgery’s success depend on?

Doctors say the success of a surgery depends a lot on the personal health, age, weight, family health history, and general state of health of a patient. The risk factors include things you can modify and those you cannot. A few modifiable risk factors include:

• Smoking
• Physical activity
• Excess weight
• Compliance with medication and pre-surgical preparation
• Use of alcohol or controlled substances
• Management of underlying conditions like high blood pressure or high blood sugar

A few factors that you cannot modify include:

• Age
• Coronary artery disease
• Diabetes
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD
• Cancer
• Other chronic diseases

What is inoperative mortality?

Intraoperative mortality means the deaths that occur during the surgical procedure, while the patient is in the operating room. According to experts, intraoperative mortality is influenced by factors like the health status of the patient, along with the complexity of the surgery. In the United States, intraoperative mortality is relatively rare, occurring in approximately 3.3 per 10,000 surgeries, or 0.033 per cent of cases. This rate includes both elective and emergency surgeries. India too has shown significant improvements in the data over the past decades, particularly in maternal and child health indicators. However, experts believe the risk is significantly higher for emergency surgeries compared to elective procedures. Elective surgeries benefit from detailed preoperative planning and patient optimization, leading to a lower intraoperative risk. Conversely, emergency surgeries are performed under urgent conditions, often without sufficient time to stabilize the patient, which increases the likelihood of intraoperative complications and mortality.

Understanding your risks

If you are considering undergoing surgery, make sure to have a detailed chat with your surgeon about the risk of death during the procedure. The doctor will take your personal health into account along with the typical risks of the procedure to estimate your risk level. It is not unreasonable to ask for your risk as a number. The American College of Surgeons created a Surgical Risk Calculator that takes functional status, medical history, body mass index (BMI, age, and smoking status, among other variables, into account to determine the level of surgical risk.