• Fredrik Strömqvist, Bo Jönsson, Björn Strömqvist, and Swedish Society of Spinal Surgeons.
• Swedish Society of Spinal Surgeons, Department of Orthopedics, Clinical Sciences Lund, Lund University Hospital, Lund University, SE-221 85 Lund, Sweden.
• Eur Spine J. 2012 May 1; 21 (5): 825-8.

IntroductionDecompression for lumbar spinal stenosis is one of the most frequent operations on the spine today. The most common complication seems to be a peroperative dural lesion. There are few prospective studies on this complication regarding incidence and effect on long-term outcome; this is the background for the current study.Materials And MethodsSwespine, the Swedish Spine Register documents the majority (>80%) of lumbar spine operations in Sweden today. Within the framework of this register, totally 3,699 operations for spinal stenosis during a 5-year period were studied regarding complications and 1-year postoperative outcome. Mean patient age was 66 (37-92) years and 44% were males. Fourteen percent were smokers and 19% had undergone previous lumbar spine surgery.ResultsThe overall incidence of a peroperative dural lesion was 7.4%, 8.5% of patients undergoing decompressive surgery only and 5.5% of patients undergoing decompressive surgery + fusion (p < 0.001). A logistic regression analysis demonstrated that (high) age (p < 0.0004), previous surgery (p < 0.036) and smoking (p < 0.049) were significantly predictive factors for dural lesions. An odds ratio estimate demonstrated an age-related risk increase with 2.7% per year. The risk for dural lesions also increased with number of levels decompressed. The 1-year outcome was identical in the two groups with and without a dural lesion.ConclusionA dural lesion was seen in 7.4% of decompressive operations for spinal stenosis. High age, previous surgery and smoking were risk factors for sustaining a lesion, which, however, did not affect the 1-year outcome negatively.

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