RISK ASSESSMENT SCALES IN CORONARY-ARTERY SURGERY

Currently, there is an increasing interest in the fields of cardiology and cardiac surgery related to systems of risk assessment of cardiac surgery procedures. The main benefit of these systems is quality contr ol of results obtained. Nevertheless, there are other interesting impl ications. Currently, most of the available scales make estimations of mortality risk with a defined operative technique, using preoperative variables. Other systems can make predictions on postoperative length of stay. Scales are built using the results of a large series, process ed with different mathematical models. An important condition is the s implicity of use. There is a wide range of available systems originati ng fi om clinical experience in Europe and North-America. All of them include a common number of predictive factors, although the assigned w eight can vary significantly. We recommend the routine use of these sc ales as a quality control system and as a method of characterization o f our populations in order to make adequate comparisons among differen t groups.