CHP/PCOR fellow David M. Gaba led an expert-panel conference on "The Long-term Impact of Surgery and Anesthesia," convened by the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation on Sept. 21-22 in Boston. The conference -- the first of its kind -- was held in light a growing awareness among medical experts that surgery and anesthesia may have a much more serious and more long-term impact on patients than was previously thought. Recent research has estimated that up to 50,000 patient deaths annually may be related in some now-unforeseen way to the impact of surgery and anesthesia, but the available data is preliminary, sparse and has many limitations.

Participants at the conference -- more than 30 medical experts in anesthesiology, surgery, cardiology and immunology, along with representatives from government entities (such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) and healthcare quality organizations (such as the National Quality Forum) -- reviewed the recent data on this emerging patient-safety concern, recommended further research to clarify the uncertainties surrounding it, and discussed potential interventions to prevent long-term problems related to surgery and anesthesia.

"This convergence of so many specialties focusing intensely on critical questions surrounding surgery, may, we hope, produce eventual revelations about how we care for a patient before, during and long after surgery," Gaba commented.

Gaba is a professor of anesthesia at the Stanford School of Medicine and is director of the Patient Safety Center of Inquiry at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. He is also an active member and the secretary of the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation, formed in 1984 to promote collaboration, awareness and action in the medical community regarding anesthesia and patient safety.

National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" program on Sept. 28 aired a segment examining the issue of the long-term dangers of surgery and anesthesia. The segment, which also discussed the Boston conference, included comments from Gaba.