The Spine Journal published an article examining the perioperative neurologic complications for spinal fusion patients.
The study authors examined data form the Nationwide Inpatient Sample data from 1999 to 2011. The study authors found:
1. The total incidence rate of perioperative neurologic deficits after elective anterior cervical discectomy and fusion, posterior cervical fusions and thoracolumbar fusions was 0.82 percent; there were 15,066 patients who reported complications.
2. Perioperative neurological deficit incidence rate increased 54.41 percent from 1999 to 2011; the rate grew from 0.68 percent in 1999 to 1.05 percent in 2011.
3. Spinal fusions performed annually over the study period increased from 82,167 in 1999 to 186,353 in 2011.
4. The patients who reported perioperative neurologic deficits had longer hospital stays — 9.68 days compared with 2.56 days for patients who didn't have neurological deficits.
5. The cost for patients with perioperative neurologic deficits was $110,326 on average, considerably higher than the $48,695 for patients without neurologic deficits.
6. The patients without neurologic deficits reported lower in hospital mortality — 0.13 percent compared to 2.84 percent of the patients with perioperative neurologic deficits.
"These trends indicate that the perioperative neurologic complications following spine surgery represent a growing problem in today's healthcare system; further study is warranted to prevent and treat these complications in order to improve patient care and reduce healthcare utilization," concluded the study authors.