Mohs surgery yields increased complication risk in patients with CKD

Patients with a history of chronic kidney diseases who undergo Mohs surgery had a greater risk for postoperative complications, according to findings presented at the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery annual meeting.

“Previous studies have shown CKD to be associated with multiple dermatological manifestations,” Vishal A. Patel, MD, director of dermatologic surgery at George Washington University School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote. “However, the risk of complications after Mohs surgery has not been studied in CKD patients.”

Patel and colleagues analyzed data from a retrospective cohort study using a real-time research network comprised of 48 million electronic medical records.

The researchers identified that patients were at a significantly higher risk for developing nine postoperative complications: cellulitis/lymphangitis (adjusted relative risk = 2.75; 95% CI, 1.92-3.95), infections (aRR = 1.72; 95% CI, 1.37-2.18), hematoma/seroma (aRR = 2.89; 95% CI, 1.57-5.31), hemorrhage (aRR = 1.72; 95% CI, 1.28-2.31), pain (aRR = 4.11; 95% CI, 2.95-5.74), paresthesia of skin (aRR = 3.73; 95% CI, 2.34-5.96), pruritus (aRR = 2.28; 95% CI, 1.42-3.66), muscle weakness (aRR = 3.20; 95% CI, 1.78-5.74) and anesthesia of skin (aRR = 1.40; 95% CI, 1.04-1.89).

“Greater care and caution must be taken when dealing with CKD patients to reduce the risk of poor outcomes,” the authors wrote.