Introduction:

Nowadays, the diverse criteria related to surgical reinterventions are a real scientific problem since it is very important to delve into the main cognitive aspects associated to this topic in order to raise the quality of medical assistance and thus the survival index in the old population as a vulnerable group.

Objectives:

To identify the factors that allow recognizing the modifiable conditions that lead to less complications and deaths of patients undergoing a new surgical treatment.

Methods:

Search of updated publications in English and Spanish made in Goggle, Redalyc, PubMed, Medline, Lilacs and Elsevier databases.

Results:

The postsurgical complications and those requiring surgical reintervention in particular are of multifactoral origin. There is neither one single definition nor one standardized classification of the postsurgical complications to notify them. The most used objective classifications are Claven Dindo and Accordeon, based on the stratification of the required treatment, the risk and the severity.

Conclusions:

In spite of the fact that the great technological advances in the diagnostic and therapeutic methods have allowed the reoperation of complicated patients with higher margin of safety, morbidity and mortality caused by such complications are still high.

        · resumen en Español     · texto en Español     · Español ( pdf )