Survival rates for risky surgeries in U.S. vary widely: study

eports that Leapfrog Group found in a study based on data requested from 1,500 hospitals that survival rates for high-risk surgeries vary significantly among hospitals. Leapfrog reported variations in both the number of responding hospitals and the range of survival rates as follows: pancreatectomy results based on data from 487 hospitals showed survival rates of 81 to 100 percent; esophagectomy (535 hospitals) showed survival rates of 88 to 98 percent; abdominal aortic aneurysm repairs (792 hospitals) survival rates of 86 to 99 percent; aortic valve replacement (544 hospitals) showed survival rates of 92 to 97 percent. The study didn't analyze which kinds of hospitals - nonprofit or for-profit, in one region or another - excelled, but in general those that performed more procedures did best. National stalwarts such as Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, aced all four surgeries, but so did Hoag Memorial in Newport Beach, California, and Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/12/us-healthcare-hospitals-survival-idUSKBN0M809D20150312