Journal of neurosurgery. Spine
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Spinal cord stimulation has been shown to improve pain relief and reduce narcotic analgesic use in cases of complex refractory pain syndromes. However, a subset of patients ultimately undergoes removal of the spinal cord stimulator (SCS) system, presumably because of surgical complications or poor efficacy. This retrospective study addresses the paucity of evidence regarding risk factors and underlying causes of spinal cord stimulation failures that necessitate this explantation. ⋯ The authors' findings provide insight regarding the mechanisms of spinal cord stimulation failure that resulted in total removal of the implanted system. The relationship between spinal cord stimulation failure and certain psychiatric disorders, such as PTSD, depression, and anxiety, is highlighted. Ultimately, this work may shed light on potential avenues to reduce morbidity and improve patient outcomes.
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The authors believe that the standardized and systematic study of immobilization techniques, diagnostic modalities, medical and surgical treatment strategies, and ultimately outcomes and outcome measurement after cervical spinal trauma and cervical spinal fracture injuries, if performed using well-designed medical evidence-based comparative investigations with meaningful follow-up, has both merit and the remarkable potential to identify optimal strategies for assessment, characterization, and clinical management. However, they recognize that there is inherent difficulty in attempting to apply evidence-based medicine (EBM) to identify ideal treatment strategies for individual cervical fracture injuries. First, there is almost no medical evidence reported in the literature for the management of specific isolated cervical fracture subtypes; specific treatment strategies for specific fracture injuries have not been routinely studied in a rigorous, comparative way. ⋯ It should be embraced and used to drive and shape investigations of the management and treatment strategies offered patients. It should not be abandoned because it is not convenient or it does not support popular practice bias or patterns. It is the authors' view that the science of EBM is essential and necessary and, furthermore, that it has great potential as clinician scientists treat and study the many variations and complexities of patients who sustain acute cervical spine fracture injuries.
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Surgical treatment of primary bone tumors of the spine and en bloc resection for isolated metastases are complex and challenging. Operative care is fraught with complications, though the true incidence and predictors of adverse events (AEs), length of stay (LOS), and mortality in this population remain poorly understood. The primary objective of this study was to describe the incidence and predictors of perioperative AEs in these patients. Secondary objectives included the determination of the incidence and predictors of admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), unanticipated reoperation during the same admission, hospital LOS, and mortality. ⋯ Surgeries for primary bone tumors and en bloc resection for metastatic tumors are associated with a high incidence of perioperative AEs. Surgical duration predicts complications, reoperation, LOS, and ICU stay.
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Endoscopic discectomy (ED) has been advocated as a less-invasive alternative to open microdiscectomy (OM) and tubular microdiscectomy (TM) for lumbar disc herniations, with the potential to decrease postoperative pain and shorten recovery times. Large-scale, objective comparisons of outcomes between ED, OM, and TM, however, are lacking. The authors' objective in this study was to conduct a meta-analysis comparing outcomes of ED, OM, and TM. ⋯ Outcomes of TM and OM for lumbar disc herniations are largely equivalent. While this analysis demonstrated that several clinical variables were significantly improved in patients undergoing ED when compared with OM, the magnitude of many of these differences was small and of uncertain clinical relevance, and several of the included studies were retrospective and subject to a high risk of bias. Further high-quality prospective studies are needed before definitive conclusions can be drawn regarding the comparative efficacy of the various surgical treatments for lumbar disc herniations.
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Patient satisfaction with treatment outcome is gaining an increasingly important role in assessing the value of surgical spine care delivery. Nationwide data evaluating the predictors of patient satisfaction in elective cervical spine surgery are lacking. The authors sought to decipher the impacts of the patient, surgical practice, and surgeon on satisfaction with outcome following anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF). ⋯ The authors' results found baseline NDI score, patient race, insurance status, symptom duration, and Workers' compensation status as well as the geographic region of the hospital to be the most important predictors of long-term patient satisfaction after a 1- to 2-level ACDF. The findings of the present analysis further reinforce the role of preoperative discussion with patients on setting treatment goals and realistic expectations.