Journal of neurosurgery. Spine
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Complications after spine surgery have an impact on overall outcome and health care expenditures. The increased cost of complications is due in part to associated prolonged hospital stays. The authors propose that certain complications have a greater impact on length of stay (LOS) than others and that those complications should be the focus of future targeted prevention efforts. They conducted a retrospective analysis of a prospectively maintained database to identify complications with the greatest impact on LOS as well as the predictive value of these complications with respect to 90-day readmission rates. ⋯ Postoperative complications in patients who have undergone spine surgery are not uncommon and are associated with prolonged hospital stays. In the current cohort, the occurrence of pulmonary complications, UTI, and new neurological deficit had the greatest effect on overall LOS. Further study is required to determine the causative factors affecting readmission. These specific complications may be high-yield targets for cost reduction and/or prevention efforts.
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This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of mini-open anterior debridement and lumbar interbody fusion in combination with posterior percutaneous fixation for single-level lumbar pyogenic spondylodiscitis. ⋯ Mini-open anterior debridement and lumbar interbody fusion in combination with posterior percutaneous fixation via a modified ALIF approach results in little surgical trauma and intraoperative blood loss, acceptable postoperative complications, and is effective and safe for the treatment of single-level lumbar pyogenic spondylodiscitis. This approach could be an alternative to the conventional open surgery.