The study authors gathered data from the Medicare insurance database for patients who underwent primary lumbar discectomy for lumbar disc herniation from 2009 to 2012. The researchers split patients into two groups: those with incidental durotomy on the day of surgery and the control group. The study authors found:
1. The incidental durotomy rate was 4.9 percent.
2. Patients in the incidental durotomy group had higher rates of wound infection — 2.4 percent, compared with 1.3 percent in the control group. Wound dehiscence was 0.9 percent in the durotomy group, compared with 0.4 percent in the control group.
3. Control group patients had a lower rate of serious adverse events — 0.2 percent — when compared with the incidental durotomy group — 0.9 percent.
4. The durotomy group costs were more than $4,000 higher per patient in the durotomy group than the control group.
5. The study authors concluded, “Incidental durotomies occur in almost one in every 20 elderly patients treated with primary lumbar discectomy. Given the increased hospital costs and complication rates, this complication must be viewed as anything but benign.”
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