Standardization of postoperative adverse event reporting: A critical opportunity for improvement within the National Clinical Trials Network.

Helmink, Beth; Katz, Matthew H G; Raut, Chandrajit P; Mandrekar, Sumithra J; Laumann, Kristina; Booth, Allison; Hoffman, Laura; Singer, Eric A et al. · Cancer · 2026

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Abstract

Although structured reporting of adverse events related to medical therapies is a critical aspect of clinical trials, the current practice fails to capture postoperative complications accurately or systematically, which precludes our ability to fully assess the impact of the risks of surgical interventions on oncologic outcomes. The incorporation of standardized, procedure‐specific definitions and severity classifications for postoperative complications into adverse event reporting in trials conducted through the National Clinical Trials Network is proposed.