Utilizing risk-stratified pathways to personalize post-hepatectomy discharge planning: A contemporary analysis of 1,354 patients

Background: While risk-stratified post-hepatectomy pathways (RSPHPs) reduce length-of-stay, can they stratify hepatectomy patients by risk of early postoperative events. Methods: 90-day outcomes from consecutive hepatectomies were analyzed (1/1/2017–12/31/2021). Pre/post-pathway analysis was performed for pathways: minimally invasive surgery (“MIS”); non-anatomic resection/left hepatectomy (“low-intermediate risk”); right/extended hepatectomy (“high-risk”); “Combination” operations. Time-to-event (TTE) analyses for readmission and interventional radiology procedures (IRPs) was performed. Results: 1354 patients were included: MIS/n= ​119 (9 ​%); low-intermediate risk/n= ​443 (33 ​%); high-risk/n= ​328 (24 ​%); Combination/n= ​464 (34 ​%). There was no difference in readmission (pre: 13 ​% vs. post:11.5 ​%, p ​= ​0.398). There were fewer readmissions in post-pathway patients amongst MIS, low-intermediate risk, and Combination patients (all p ​> ​0.1). 114 (8.4 ​%) patients required IRPs. Time-to-readmission and time-to-IR-procedure plots demonstrated lower plateaus and flatter slopes for MIS/low-intermediate-risk pathways post-pathway implementation (p ​< ​0.001). Conclusion: RSPHPs can reliably stratify patients by risks of readmission or need for an IR procedure by predicting the most frequent period for these events.