Postoperative complications among dialysis-requiring patients undergoing splenectomy

Dialysis patients are at high risk for surgery, but their outcomes after splenectomy are unclear. We compared postoperative complications between dialysis and non-dialysis patients.

Data were retrieved from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program for this retrospective cohort. Adult patients undergoing elective splenectomy between 2005 and 2020 were included.

Among 10,339 included patients, 143(1.4%) were on chronic dialysis. Postoperative mortality was higher in dialysis vs. non-dialysis patients (9.1% vs. 1.8%). Dialysis patients were more likely to have 30-day major morbidity, infectious and non-infectious complications, reoperation, and prolonged hospital stay. On multivariable regression, dialysis dependence significantly increased odds of mortality, major morbidity, blood transfusion, prolonged length of stay, reoperation, and failure-to-rescue (FTR).

Dialysis patients were at higher risk of postoperative morbidity following splenectomy. Additionally, the risk of FTR in this patient population is also significantly more compared to non-dialysis patients.