Effect of Telemedicine Support for Intraoperative Anaesthesia Care on Postoperative Outcomes: The TECTONICS Randomised Clinical Trial

Abstract

Background: Novel applications of telemedicine can improve care quality and patient outcomes. Telemedicine for intraoperative decision support has not been rigorously studied. Methods: This single centre randomised clinical trial (clinicaltrials.govNCT03923699) of unselected adult surgical patients was conducted between July 1, 2019 and January 31, 2023. Patients received usual care or decision support from a telemedicine service, the Anesthesiology Control Tower (ACT). The ACT provided real-time recommendations to intraoperative anaesthesia clinicians based on case reviews, machine-learning forecasting, and physiologic alerts. ORs were randomised 1:1. Co-primary outcomes of 30-day all-cause mortality, respiratory failure, acute kidney injury (AKI), and delirium were analysed as intention-to-treat. Results: The trial completed planned enrolment with 71927 surgeries (35956 ACT; 35971 usual care). After multiple testing correction, there was no significant effect of the ACT vs. usual care on 30-day mortality [641/35956 (1.8%) vs 638/35971 (1.8%), risk difference 0.0% (95% CI -0.2% to 0.3%), p=0.96], respiratory failure [1089/34613 (3.1%) vs 1112/34619 (3.2%), risk difference -0.1% (95% CI -0.4% to 0.3%), p=0.96], AKI [2357/33897 (7%) vs 2391/33795 (7.1%), risk difference -0.1% (-0.6% to 0.4%), p=0.96], or delirium [1283/3928 (32.7%) vs 1279/3989 (32.1%), risk difference 0.6% (-2.0% to 3.2%), p=0.96]. There were no significant differences in secondary outcomes or in sensitivity analyses. Conclusions: In this large RCT of a novel application of telemedicine-based remote monitoring and decision support using real-time alerts and case reviews, we found no significant differences in postoperative outcomes. Large-scale intraoperative telemedicine is feasible, and we suggest future avenues where it may be impactful.