Abstract
Objective
To evaluate the incidence of postoperative complications and mortality among patients submitted to elective or non-elective neurosurgery.
Methods
Prospective cohort study in adult patients, followed from preoperative period until hospital discharge or death.
Results
One hundred and twenty seven patients were included in elective surgery group and 75 patients in non-elective surgery group. The elective group had more vomiting (p=0.010) and pain (p<0.001) and the non-elective group presented more intracranial hypertension (p=0.001), anisocoria (p=0.002), cerebral vasospasm (p=0.043), light-unresponsive pupil (p=0.006) and reoperation (p=0.046). The mortality rate was 5.5% in the elective surgery group and 26.7% in the non-elective surgery group (p<0.001).
Conclusion
Elective procedures in neurosurgery are related to higher frequencies of systemic complications while non-elective surgeries had significantly higher rates of neurological complications and mortality.
Neurosurgical procedures; Postoperative complications; Perioperative nursing