Perioperative and short-term advantages of mini-open approach for lumbar spinal fusion.

It has been widely reported a vascular and neurologic damage of the lumbar muscles produced in the classic posterior approach for lumbar spinal fusions. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate a better clinical and functional outcome in the postoperative and short term in patients undergoing minimal invasive surgery ("mini-open") for this lumbar spinal arthrodesis. We designed a prospective study with a 30 individuals cohort randomized in two groups, depending on the approach performed to get a instrumented lumbar circumferential arthrodesis: "classic posterior" (CL group) or "mini-open" approach (MO group). Several clinical and functional parameters were assessed, including blood loss, postoperative pain, analgesic requirements and daily life activities during hospital stay and at the 3-month follow-up. Patients of the "mini-open approach" group had a significant lower blood loss and hospital stay during admission. They also had significant lower analgesic requirements and faster recovery of daily life activities (specially moderate efforts) when compared to the patients of the "classic posterior approach" group. No significant differences were found between two groups in surgery timing, X-rays exposure or sciatic postoperative pain. This study, inline with previous investigations, reinforces the concept of minimizing the muscular lumbar damage with a mini-open approach for a faster and better recovery of patients' disability in the short term. Further investigations are necessary to confirm these findings in the long term, and to verify the achievement of a stable lumbar spinal fusion.

Actividad de una unidad ambulatoria de cirugía ortopédia y traumatología en un hospital terciario / Activity of an orthopaedics and traumatology ambulatory surgical unit in a third level hospital

OBJETIVOS: Determinar la distribución y características de los pacientes intervenidos en una Unidad de Cirugía Mayor Ambulatoria de Cirugía Ortopédica y Traumatología en un Hospital de tercer nivel. MATERIAL Y MÉTODOS: Muestra: N= 4451 pacientes. Estudio descriptivo de todos los pacientes intervenidos desde el año 1993 hasta el 2004 a los cuales se les ha hecho un seguimiento entre seis meses y un año. RESULTADOS: El 80% (3565) de los pacientes intervenidos en nuestra unidad fueron mujeres. La media de edad fue de 58´2 años. Las patologías más frecuentes fueron: Hallux valgus 1608 (36%), Dedo en martillo 964 (22%) y SDM túnel carpiano 642 (13%). El 96% de las intervenciones se realizaron bajo anestesia local y sedación. El dolor postoperatorio fue ausente o leve en la mitad de los casos (48´73%). La tasa de complicaciones postoperatorias fue del 2´5%, predominando los problemas de cicatrización (1´12%) y la infección de herida (0´9%). La tasa de ingreso fue del 0´16%. La necesidad de atención por el Servicio de Urgencias fue de 1,9% y la satisfacción subjetiva a los 3 o 6 meses de nuestros pacientes fue de "contentos" o "muy contentos" en el 96´61% de los casos (..) (AU)

OBJETIVES: To determine the distribution and characteristics of patients undergoing ambulatory surgery in Traumatology in a third level hospital. METHODS: A descriptive study of 4451 outpatient surgical procedures, performed between January 1993 and May 2004, was undertaken, with a six months to one year follow-up. RESULTS: 80% (3565) of patients requiring surgical procedures in our Unit were women. Mean age was 58.2 years. The most frequent pathologies were: Hallux valgus 1608 (36%), hammer toe procedures 964 (22%) and Carpal Tunnel Release 642 (13%). 96% of the operations were performed under local anesthesia and sedation. Postoperative pain was non-existent or mild in half of patients (48.73%). Post-operative rate of complications was 2.5%, mainly scartissue problems (1.12%) and infection (0.9%). The unplanned hospital admission rate was 0.16%. The need for emergency care was 1.9% and subjective satisfaction after 3 or 6 months was "good" or "excellent" in 96.61% of the patients (AU)