News and Events > TTO Licenses Software Tool for Assessing Surgical Procedures

TTO Licenses Software Tool for Assessing Surgical Procedures

September 13, 2005

Pediatric surgeons from The Children's Hospital have developed an electronic tool that ranks the complexity of more than 150 pediatric procedures for congenital heart disease. Dr. Francois Lacour-Gayet developed the tool due to frustration with surgical evaluation based upon mortality alone without regard for the complexity of the required procedure. The Aristotle Complexity Score allows surgeons to input the surgical procedure and other factors individual to the patient to help determine overall complexity and related morbidity and mortality. The Complexity Score can also help parents determine their child's score as well as rank institutions capable of performing procedures at given levels of complexity.

Dr. Lacour-Gayet and Dr. David Clarke, also of The Children's Hospital, have formed a non-profit organization, The Aristotle Institute, to develop systems designed to promote quality healthcare based on the concept that complexity is a constant all over the world. The Institute will globally disseminate electronic tools, focusing on complexity scoring, to evaluate performance and to positively influence the behavior of healthcare providers and payors. The Aristotle Institute and the University of Colorado have entered into an exclusive license agreement for the complexity scoring system in pediatric congenital heart disease. To learn more about the Aristotle Institute, please see their website at www.aristotleinstitute.org.