A systematic review of POSSUM and its related models as predictors of post-operative mortality and morbidity in patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer.

Introduction: The Physiological and Operative Severity Score for the enUmeration of Mortality and morbidity (POSSUM) model and its Portsmouth (P-POSSUM) and colorectal (CR-POSSUM) modifications are used extensively to predict and audit post-operative mortality and morbidity. This aim of this systematic review was to assess the predictive value of the POSSUM models in colorectal cancer surgery.

Methods: Major electronic databases, including Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library and Pubmed were searched for original studies published between 1991 and 2010.