Table 1.

Selection criteria for low-risk patients included in the best-patient-in-best-centre benchmark analysis

Inclusion criteria

Age ≥18 years

Minimally invasive spleen-preserving distal pancreatectomy  for benign and premalignant lesions

Exclusion criteria: surgical

Extended distal pancreatectomy or multivisceral resection

Previous major abdominal surgery (bariatric and liver surgery)

Exclusion criteria: co-morbidities

ASA fitness grade ≥ III

BMI ≥ 35 kg/m²

Cardiac disease, defined as:

CHF onset or exacerbation in the 30 days before surgery

History of angina pectoris within 1 month of surgery

Myocardial infarct within 6 months of surgery

History of percutaneous coronary intervention or cardiac surgery

Atrial fibrillation

Chronic renal failure (MDRD ≥ stage 3), defined as:

GFR < 60 ml per min per 1.73 m2, or serum creatinine >1.8 mg/dl or 160 μmol/l

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with FEV1 < 80%

Exclusion criteria: medication

Use of one of the following anticoagulants:

Non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants

Vitamin K antagonist

Clopidogrel

≥ 2 oral antidiabetic drugs or insulin

ASA, American Society of Anaesthesiologists; BMI, body mass index; CHF, congestive heart failure; MDRD, Modification of Diet in Renal Disease; GFR, glomerular filtration rate; FEV1, forced expiratory volume in 1 second.