In surgery, how much of a risk is considered acceptable?

Question

Of course, they vary depending on the situation. Can anyone give the percentages with situations?

Answer 1

What an excellent question. It depends upon the situation, doesn't it? Every case is different, as is every person's assessment of the risks vs. benefits.

There are people who take moderate risk for strictly cosmetic purposes, but for them, it is clearly worth it or they wouldn't do it. There are others who refuse to take similar risk for procedures that could greatly improve their lives. Example - gangrenous foot but refusing amputation.

The only percentages you can give relate to populations, not to any particular situation. You can say, "this works 80% of the time", but for a given patient, either it works or it doesn't. You can say, the risk of death of 1 in a million, but if you're that one, the other 999,999 don't matter.

That is why every patient must give informed consent. They are told of the risks, alternatives and what can happen if they don't have the procedure. The ultimate decision belongs to the patient.

Here's an example for you: abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery. It's pretty risky for anybody - it's a big procedure. If you have a stable aneurysm that is small, the risk of surgery is higher than the risk of dying from the aneurysm, so those are just watched. If your aneurysm is leaking, you're going to be dead in minutes to hours, so we rush you to the OR, because your risk of dying with surgery is high, but your risk of dying without surgery is certain. Then there's the middle ground, where the aneurysm is growing, and might rupture. Those get fixed electively (much lower risk than operating emergently), with pretty good success rate. The trick is knowing when to go to surgery, and that is where experience and clinical judgment come into play.

Answer 2

In every surgical procedure the risk must be weighted against the potential benefit of the procedure. I cannot give you the incidence of every complication during every surgery, nor do I think any one can but... With respect to death as a complication of a majour procedure where General Anaesthesia is used. There is an accepted incidence of death in about 0.01% in very large studies.

Answer 3

For me, it would depend on how imperative the surgery was. If it was for something cosmetic, any risk would be unacceptable. If it would be for something that would safe my life, quite a bit of risk would be acceptable.

Answer 4

Nil risk only is acceptible.