Question:medium
The Thoracoscore is a widely used model to predict operative mortality in thoracic surgery patients. Which of the following is NOT a component of the Thoracoscore?
The Thoracoscore is a widely used model to predict operative mortality in thoracic surgery patients. Which of the following is NOT a component of the Thoracoscore?
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The model predicts mortality from preoperative variables, so an outcome it tries to predict cannot itself be an input.
Updated On: Jun 23, 2026
- ASA classification
- Surgery priority (elective vs urgent)
- Performance status
- Expected complications after surgery
Show Solution
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
Input versus output logic. The Thoracoscore is a preoperative calculator: it takes patient and operative facts and spits out a predicted mortality. So anything that is itself an outcome cannot also be an input.
Run the options: ASA class, WHO performance status and the priority of surgery are all real preoperative variables that feed the score, alongside age, sex, dyspnoea, comorbidity count, surgical extent and procedure class. Expected post-operative complications, however, is a future outcome, not a measurable preoperative input, so it is NOT a component and is the correct choice here.
Key caveat: the crowd-recalled answer key names surgery priority, but priority is genuinely part of Thoracoscore, so by established surgical references the medically correct non-component is expected complications. Ref: Bailey and Love, Short Practice of Surgery, 27th edition, 2018.
Run the options: ASA class, WHO performance status and the priority of surgery are all real preoperative variables that feed the score, alongside age, sex, dyspnoea, comorbidity count, surgical extent and procedure class. Expected post-operative complications, however, is a future outcome, not a measurable preoperative input, so it is NOT a component and is the correct choice here.
Key caveat: the crowd-recalled answer key names surgery priority, but priority is genuinely part of Thoracoscore, so by established surgical references the medically correct non-component is expected complications. Ref: Bailey and Love, Short Practice of Surgery, 27th edition, 2018.
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