Several distinct definitions of postoperative death have been used in various quality reporting programs. Some have defined a postoperative mortality as a patient who expires while still in the hospital, while others have considered all deaths occurring within a predetermined, standardized time interval after surgery. While if continues to collect mortality data using both these individual definitions, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) believes that either alone may be inadequate. Accordingly, the STS prefers a more encompassing metric, Operative Mortality, which is defined as (1) all deaths occurring during the hospitalization in which the operation was performed, even if after 30 days; and (2) all deaths occurring after discharge from the hospital, but before the end of the thirtieth postoperative day. This manuscript provides clarification for some uncommon but important scenarios where the correct application of this definition may be problematic.

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