Definition of colorectal anastomotic leakage: A consensus survey among Dutch and Chinese colorectal surgeons

Figure 1 Demographic chart of the Chinese regions this survey covers. The gray scale reflects the number of participants in each region, varying from 21 from Zhejiang to 1 from Hainan. Correlating with the number of colorectal surgeons in each region, more surgeons from the east regions participated in this survey. Tibet and Ningxia had no participants, which also corresponds to the fact that the number of surgeons is very limited compared to the east provinces. Due to the application of different medical systems in these regions, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan were not included in this survey.

Figure 2 Percentage of respondents in agreement to general definitions of colorectal anastomotic leakage in the Netherlands (white bars) and China (dark grey bars). The dotted line indicates the 80% consensus threshold for the different statements. An a indicates a significant (^aP < 0.05) difference between percentages of agreement of Dutch and Chinese surgeons.

Figure 3 Distribution of categorized scores for the value clinical parameters in the direct postoperative phase. A: Comparison between the Netherlands and China. B: Scores are divided into three categories: numeric scales ranging from 0-3 are depicted in grey (disagree), 4-6 depicted in black (neutral), and numeric scales ranging from 7-10 (agree) in white.