The researchers examined 658,616 lumbar procedures between 2002 and 2011, with 55.9 percent performed in teaching hospitals. The data was gathered from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample for patients undergoing anterior lumbar interbody fusion, posterior lumbar interbody fusion, anterior/posterior lumbar fusion or lumbar decompression to treat degenerative pathology.
The researchers found teaching hospitals had an older patient population cohort with greater comorbidity than nonteaching hospitals, as well as higher multilevel fusion cases. The teaching hospitals also had a slightly longer average length of stay — 3.7 days compared with three days for nonteaching hospitals.
Patients at the teaching hospitals also had significantly greater incidence of:
• Postoperative pulmonary embolism,
• DVT
• Infection
• Neurological complications
However, there was no significant difference in total hospital costs or mortality between teaching and nonteaching hospitals.
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