Do we need a patient surgical class categorization similar to the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) grade?

Abstract

We aim to enhance the reporting of complications in surgical operations by establishing a classification for patient complexity. Current comorbidity assessment tools are insufficient due to their reliance on physiological parameters. The proposed patient surgical class category (PSCC) aims to address these limitations and enhance results by incorporating relevant aspects of a patient's surgical history. The new classification system for patient surgical classes was developed via a modified Delphi method across two iterations with urological scenarios. The consensus on the importance of individual classes within PSCC ranged from 72.83% for Class 0 to 87.95% for Class 4A. The survey results show that our proposed grading system is easy, broadly applicable, and useful for categorizing the surgical history of patients.