Current situation of dermatologic surgery in Germany

Abstract

Dermatologic surgery has become an increasingly important issue in dermatology in recent years. At present, no current epidemiologic or care-related data on cutaneous surgery procedures in dermatology are available. To determine the extent of cutaneous surgery procedures in dermatological hospitals, a national survey was performed. Both the procedure codes for 2004 based on the OPS-classification and the DRG figures grouped to the major diagnostic category 09 of G-DRG version 2004 were considered in detail. Methods of descriptive statistics were applied. The submitted data reveal that the contributing hospitals provided 164487 cutaneous surgery procedures in the investigation period. The vast majority is represented by extensive procedures and plastic-reconstructive operations, as opposed to less complex surgeries such as simple excisions. Analysis of DRG assignment indicates that surgical procedures account for 44.2% of inpatient cases. The present survey demonstrates that in Germany cutaneous surgery procedures are widely performed by dermatological hospitals and dermatologists. The increasing incidence of melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer including precursor lesions will increase the need for dermatologists to perform cutaneous surgery in the future.