The researchers examined patients included in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program who underwent cervical spine fusion from 2005 to 2010. The patients were categorized from non-obese to obese III based on body mass index.
Researchers found:
• Obese class III patients only had greater incidence of deep-vein thrombosis after anterior fusions.
• Obese patients showed longer average surgical times and operating room time after posterior fusions only.
• On multivariate analysis, there were no significant differences for complication rates, length of stay, reoperation rates and mortality among the groups.
The researchers found that BMI is not associated with increased risk of complications within 30 days of cervical spinal fusion.
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