Thoracic and cardiovascular surgery in Japan during 2011

The Japanese Association for Thoracic Surgery has conducted annual surveys of thoracic surgery throughout Japan since 1986 to determine the statistics regarding the number of procedures according to the operative category. Here, we have summarized the results from our annual survey of thoracic surgery performed during 2011. The incidence of hospital mortality was added to the survey to determine the nationwide status, which can be useful not only for surgeons, who can better compare their work with that of others, but also for the Association, which can gain a better understanding of present problems as well as future prospects. Thirty-day mortality (sometimes termed ‘‘operative mortality’’) is death within 30 days of an operation regardless of the patient’s geographic location and even though the patient had been discharged from the hospital within those 30 days. Hospital mortality is death within any time interval after an operation if the patient had not been discharged from the hospital. Hospital-to-hospital transfer is not considered discharge; transfer to a nursing home or a rehabilitation unit is considered hospital discharge unless the patient subsequently dies of complications of the operation. (The definitions of terms are based on the published guidelines of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee for Standardizing Definitions of Prosthetic Heart Valve Morbidity of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons and the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (Edmunds et al. Ann Thorac Surg 1996;62:932–5; J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1996;112:708–11). Thoracic surgery was classified into three categories— cardiovascular, general thoracic, and esophageal surgery—and the pertinent data were examined and analyzed for each group. Access to the computerized data is offered to all members of this Association. We honor and value your continued kind support and contributions (Tables 1, 2).