The 10 Most Common Surgical Procedures in Mexico

Besides offering data about medical equipment, staff and technology in Latin American hospitals, we also have focused on documenting the types of surgical procedures that are performed in the region’s hospitals.

That’s why we launched SurgiScope — a database that compiles these procedures — in the summer of 2018, offering data for Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. In the case of Mexico, we feature data on surgical procedures performed in public hospitals (we’re working to include data for private hospitals in the future).

However, it still proves interesting to observe the 10 surgical procedures most often performed in Mexican public hospitals:

1. Fracture open reduction and internal fixation, femur
2. Exploratory Laparotomy
3. Unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy
4. Open umblical hernia repair
5. Unilateral repair of inguinal hernia
6. Appendectomy
7. Incision of skin and subcutaneous tissue
8. Local removal or destruction of a lesion or skin tissue and subcutaneous skin
9. Ventriculoperitoneal shunt replacement
10. Fracture open reduction and internal fixation, humerus

Do These Common Procedures Reflect Mexico’s General Epidemiology?

There doesn’t seem to be much relation between the two. Let’s take a look at the 10 most common health conditions in Mexico as per INEGI:

1. Heart disease
2. Diabetes
3. Malignant tumors
4. Cerebrovascular diseases
5. Liver diseases
6. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD)
7. Accidents (vehicle)
8. Renal insufficiency
9. Conditions originating in the perinatal period
10. Congenital malformations of the circulatory system

Of the top 10 most common surgical procedures, only 3 of them may have a connection to the most common conditions in Mexico:

• Exploratory Laparotomy
• Unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy
• Local removal or destruction of a lesion or skin tissue and subcutaneous skin

These three procedures can be performed to treat malignant tumors, #3 on the list of the most common conditions in Mexico. A salpingo-oophorectomy is used to treat ovarian cancer, while a laparotomy can be used to determine if malignant masses in the body are operable. The local removal or destruction of a lesion or skin tissue is done via procedures like cryosurgery and fulguration, which are usually done to destroy tumors. It’s also important to note that laparotomy is also used to check abdominal organs in the event of trauma, as could occur with a motor vehicle accident, #7 on the list of the most common conditions.

And even though they don’t make the list of the top 10 conditions, work accidents are very common in Mexico. Data from the Mexican Institute of Social Security o IMSS from 2015 indicate that every 75 seconds, there’s a workplace accident in Mexico; in addition, a worker dies every eight hours from a workplace injury. These kinds of accidents can result in broken bones and it’s possible that this could be why the repairs of two types of fractures are among the top 10 surgical procedures performed in Mexican public hospitals.

Taking Advantage of the Data

It’s not surprising that there isn’t much of a relation between the common procedures and conditions in Mexico. The conditions on the top 10 list are often chronic (diabetes, COPD, heart disease, renal insufficiency, etc.) and more likely to be treated with medications instead of surgery.

That said, SurgiScope data can be useful for different types of health professionals, such as:

• Manufactures of medical equipment or devices
• Pharmaceutical companies
• Medical and administrative staff at hospitals

In the case of the first two, knowing the surgical procedures performed — particularly at the individual hospital level, as is possible with SurgiScope — help determine product demand. For their part, staff members in hospitals can take advantage of SurgiScope to compare their hospitals against others and improve their strategic planning process.

Next Steps

Contact us to schedule a demo of SurgiScope so you can see the advantages that this database can offer.