Objective:The objective of the study was to analyze the factors attributable to the cancellation of surgeries of a third-level health institution in the city of Valledupar, Cesar/Colombia (2017-2018).Material and methods: This was descriptive, retrospective, cross-sectional study.Data from the hospital surgical unit adverse case file were collected for six surgical specialties.Results: They showed that in 2017, there was a surgical suspension of 4% of the total of scheduled surgeries that were 3339, for 2018, the rate was 3% with a total of scheduled surgeries ( 1733).The reason for the suspension for both periods was the factor related to the patient's adverse conditions with 45.9 and 38.5%, respectively.The specialty most affected for these cases was the specialty of general surgery with the same percentage value in both periods of 4%.Conclusions: The results give us an idea of the factors present for the cancellation of scheduled surgeries and the need to apply measures to guarantee patient safety.