There were 181 patients studied — 63 primary and 118 metastatic tumor patients. The researchers found:
1. The average cost for spinal tumor surgery was $52,083 and there isn’t a significant difference between the hospitalization costs for primary and metastatic tumor patients. The primary tumor patients reported $55,801 hospitalization costs while the metastatic tumor patients reported $50,098 on average.
2. The higher costs were associated with these independent factors:
• Males
• Preoperative inability to ambulate
• Four or more comorbidities
• Corpectomy
• Instrumentation to more than seven levels
• Combined anterior-posterior approach
• Perioperative complication
• Longer hospital stays
3. The patients reported a 21 percent perioperative complication rate with 11.6 percent admitted within 90 days.
4. The average cost of patients readmitted with perioperative complications was $20,078. The readmission rate was 11.1 percent for the primary tumor patients and 11.9 percent for the metastatic tumor patients.
5. The independent predictors of readmission were lung metastasis and a previous hospital stay for more than 15 days.
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