title: [Why is surgery cancelled? causes, implications, and bibliographic antecedents].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify the causes of cancellation of scheduled surgical procedures at a General Hospital and review of the literature.
  The record of scheduled surgery was reviewed at 1 year. We identified frequency of cancellation and the three main sources including hospital, medical team, and patient.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Scheduled surgery record registered 3,627 surgical procedures; 863 were cancelled. The last 4 months of the year registered the majority of cases. Nearly 60% of suspensions were in Orthopedics (26.6%), General Surgery (22.13%), Gynecology (17.84%), and Ophthalmology (10.06%). Forty percent of total cancelled surgery was related with patient causes, 30% to hospital sources, and 29.8% to deficiencies of the medical team.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Rate of scheduled surgery cancellation was 23.79%. It was most important during the last 4 months of the year. Orthopedics, General Surgery, Gynecology, and Ophthalmology were the main specialties involved. Sources of cancellation were identified as patient causes, in first place; hospital deficiencies and medical team reasons shared the second place. Situational diagnosis of each hospital and a presurgical assessment clinic reduce rate of cancelled surgical procedures.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Cirugía General del Hospital General Dr. Darío Fernández Fierro, ISSSTE, Valle de México.
authors.forename: Juan Francisco
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Aguirre-Córdova
authors.forename: Guadalupe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chávez-Vázquez
authors.forename: Gustavo Alfonso
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Huitrón-Aguilar
authors.forename: Norma
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cortés-Jiménez
mesh_terms: D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D006801:Humans; D009873:Operating Rooms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013503:Surgery Department, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014600:Utilization Review