Risk stratification systems in cardiac surgery

n medicine, as in any other field, quality is a prerequisite of competitiveness. In this paper we do a brief description and definition of commonly used preoperative risk scores for heart surgery with regard to their predictive values and clinical applicability for current population. Although most of the selected score systems were primarily designed to predict mortality, postoperative morbidity has been acknowledged as the major determinant of hospital cost and quality of life after surgery. Any method of evaluation and optimization of quality is based on a risk stratification system. Risk system development and their application in current medical practice have become increasingly popular in the recent years because of the many therapeutic options available for some cardiovascular diseases, which until now were considered difficult to address, due to technical advances that are enabling risk taking. Risk stratification is a powerful decision-making tool and should represent an incumbent part of the cardiac surgical practice, just like the knowledge of anatomy and the practice of surgical techniques. These models also play an increasingly important role in risk management and performance measurement processes like quality analysis, meaningful comparison of outcomes, and identifying the optimal relationship between cost, quality of medical care and efficiency.