POSSUM scoring system as an instrument of audit in lung resection surgery

Background. The physiological and operative severity score for the enumeration of mortality and morbidity (POSSUM) is a scoring system that was validated in general surgery with the aim of being used as an instrument to evaluate surgical outcome. We applied POSSUM to a population of lung resection candidates to assess its capability to predict postoperative complications. Methods. Two hundred fifty lung resection candidates were prospectively evaluated from 1993 through 1996. The POSSUM value was entered along with other variables (sex, smoking history, type of resection, pulmonary function tests, arterial carbon dioxide, serum albumin level, total lymphocyte count, neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and diabetes) in a multivariate analysis to identify independent predictors of postoperative morbidity. Results. Logistic regression analysis showed POSSUM was predictive of postoperative complications, showing no significant difference between predicted and observed morbidity (χ2 test, p> 0.05). Conclusions. We think POSSUM can be appropriately used as a tool of surgical audit in lung resection operations.