• Jeff Ehresman, A Karim Ahmed, Andrew Schilling, Zach Pennington, Daniel Lubelski, Ethan Cottrill, Matthew L Goodwin, Alexandra Liddy, Nancy Abu-Bonsrah, C Rory Goodwin, and Daniel M Sciubba.
• Department of Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
• World Neurosurg. 2020 Jan 1; 133: e173-e179.

BackgroundPreoperative malnutrition is associated with increased postoperative complication rate and hospital length of stay. However, the degree to which these risks can be mitigated by nutritional consultation has not been well described. To address this, we sought to determine if a preoperative nutrition consult was associated with decreased 30-day complication rate and hospital length of stay.MethodsAdult patients who underwent neurosurgical intervention for spinal metastases at a tertiary care institution between 2008 and 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. Stepwise multivariable linear regression analyses were used to identify associations with 30-day complication rate and hospital length of stay.ResultsAmong 95 patients who met inclusion criteria, the average length of stay was 8.9 days and 40 patients (42.1%) experienced one or more postoperative complications. On multivariable analysis, 30-day complication rates were higher in patients with the absence of a preoperative nutrition consult, a Modified Charlson Comorbidity Index score of greater than 2 points, greater operative blood loss, and malnutrition (Nutritional Risk Index score <97.5). Furthermore, hospitalization duration was increased with the absence of a nutrition consult, malnutrition, congestive heart failure, and prior systemic therapy in the multivariable analysis.ConclusionsOn multivariable analysis, receipt of a preoperative nutrition consult was associated with both decreased 30-day complication rate and shorter hospitalization. We therefore posit that greater implementation of nutritional counseling may help to decrease complication rates and expedite discharge in patients undergoing surgical intervention for spinal metastases.Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

26 keywords...

hide…