OBJECTIVE Surgery is the cornerstone in the management of pediatric brain tumors. To provide safe and effective health services, quantifying and evaluating quality of care are important. To do this, there is a need for universal measures in the form of indicators reflecting quality of the delivered care. The objective of this study was to analyze currently applied quality indicators in pediatric brain tumor surgery and identify factors associated with poor outcome at a tertiary neurosurgical referral center in western Norway. METHODS All patients younger than 18 years of age who underwent surgery for an intracranial tumor at the Department of Neurosurgery at Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway, between 2009 and 2020 were included. The primary outcomes of interest were classic quality indicators: 30-day readmission, 30-day reoperation, 30-day mortality, 30-day nosocomial infection, and 30-day surgical site infection (SSI) rates; and length of stay. The secondary aim was the identification of risk factors related to unfavorable outcome. The authors also conducted a systematic literature review. Articles concerning pediatric brain tumor surgery reporting at least two quality indicators were of interest. RESULTS The authors included 82 patients aged 0–17 years. The 30-day outcomes for unplanned reoperation, unplanned remission, mortality, nosocomial infection, and SSI were 9.8%, 14.6%, 0%, 6.1%, and 3.7%, respectively. Unplanned reoperation was associated with eloquent localization (p = 0.009), primary emergency surgery (p = 0.003), and CSF diversion procedures (p = 0.002). Greater tumor volume was associated with unplanned readmission (p = 0.008), nosocomial infection (p = 0.004), and CSF leakage (p = 0.005). In the systematic review, after full-text screening, 16 articles were included and provided outcome data for 1856 procedures. Overall, the 30-day mortality rate was low, varying from 0% to 9.3%. The 30-day reoperation rate varied from 1.5% to 12%. The SSI rate ranged between 0% and 3.9%, and 0% to 17.4% of patients developed CSF leakage. Four studies reported infratentorial tumor location as a risk factor for postoperative CSF leakage. CONCLUSIONS The 30-day outcomes in the authors’ department were comparable to published outcomes. The most relevant factors related to unfavorable outcomes are tumor volume and location, both of which are not modifiable by the surgeon. This highlights the importance of risk adjustment. This evaluation of quality indicators reveals concerns related to the unclear and nonstandardized definitions of outcomes. Standardized outcome definitions and documentation in a large and multicentric database are needed in the future for further evaluation of quality indicators.

Introduction. Nonmodifiable cardiovascular risk factors, like age and sex, are easily quantifiable. Due to immense technical progress in diagnostics and medical data storage, the aim of this study was to quantify, verify, and to compare parental cardiovascular events (CVE) as an additional nonmodifiable risk factor for young and middle-aged ischaemic stroke patients and controls. Methods. Information about parental CVE was first obtained by standardized questionnaires answered by 385 acute ischaemic stroke patients (15-60 years of age) and 260 controls. After consent to contact living and include deceased parents, patients and controls provided necessary personal identification of their parents. Thereafter, CVE were verified by standardized questionnaires answered by parents or medical records in case of deceased parents. Results. One hundred-and-nine (14.2%) of 770 patient parents vs. 128 (24.6%) of 520 control parents were not available for verification. Active participation was obtained for 229 (73.9%) of 310 patient parents vs.113 (58.2%) of 194 control parents. Medical record verification was obtained for 192 (54.7%) of 351 deceased patient parents, vs.103 (52.0%) of 198 deceased control parents. This study showed highest death rates of fathers (65.3% patient fathers and 57.6% control fathers) and highest numbers of CVE, especially myocardial infarction among patient fathers of patients aged 50-60 years. Discussion and Conclusion. Obtaining verified parental CVE as a nonmodifiable risk factor is still challenging, despite widely available digital medical information. To attain more accurate information on parental CVE, we recommend active involvement of family members in addition to medical record verification, especially for patients aged <50 years. Trial Registration. This trial is registered with NCT01597453