Avoidable Emergency Department Utilization Within 6 Months Following Elective Thoracolumbar Spine Surgery for Degenerative Pathologies.

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study. OBJECTIVE: To identify prevalence of, reasons for, and predictors of emergency department (ED) utilization 6 months following elective thoracolumbar spine surgery. METHODS: A retrospective review of a patient database was conducted (N = 577). Visits were divided by orthopedic spinal surgeons into (1) avoidable ED visit, (2) appropriate/no visit, and (3) unrelated visit. MEASURES: Demographics, pain scores, patient characteristics, and surgical factors. RESULTS: A total of 14.38% of patients made an ED visit the majority for avoidable reasons (11.43%). Avoidable ED visits were predominately attributed to pain (45.5%) and physiology-related issues (50.0%). Significant differences in the Numerical Rating Scale-leg pain (NRS-L); U = 13 931, P = .031) were found. Patients with avoidable visits had higher leg pain prior to surgery than those without an avoidable visit. Marital status was also statistically significant, χ2(2, N = 535) = 8.189, P = .017. Patients were more likely to make an avoidable postoperative ED visit if they were either single or divorced/separated compared to patients who were married. A multivariate logistic regression model including NRS-L and marital status was statistically significant, χ2(3) = 10.14, P = .017; however only explained 3.7% of the variance. CONCLUSION: A large percentage of elective thoracolumbar surgery patients returned to the ED within 6 months for avoidable reasons. Patients likely to make avoidable visits could not be identified prior to surgery in a clinically meaningful way. Reasons for patients returning to the ED for avoidable reasons focused on pain management and minor physiological symptoms. Enhanced presurgical education may manage postsurgical expectations helping to prevent avoidable ED visits.

Elevated Patient Body Mass Index Does Not Negatively Affect Self-Reported Outcomes of Thoracolumbar Surgery: Results of a Comparative Observational Study with Minimum 1-Year Follow-Up.

Study Design Retrospective study. Objective Quantify the effect of obesity on elective thoracolumbar spine surgery patients. Methods Five hundred consecutive adult patients undergoing thoracolumbar spine surgery to treat degenerative pathologies with minimum follow-up of at least 1 year were included. Primary outcome measures included Numerical Rating Scales for back and leg pain, the Short Form 36 Physical Component Summary and Mental Component Summary, the modified Oswestry Disability Index, and patient satisfaction scores collected preoperatively and at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months postoperatively. Secondary outcome measures included perioperative and postoperative adverse events, postoperative emergency department presentation, hospital readmission, and revision surgeries. Patients were grouped according to World Health Organization body mass index (BMI) guidelines to isolate the effect of obesity on primary and secondary outcome measures. Results Mean BMI was 30 kg/m(2), reflecting a significantly overweight population. Each BMI group reported statistically significant improvement on all self-reported outcome measures. Contrary to our hypothesis, however, there was no association between BMI group and primary outcome measures. Patients with BMI of 35 to 39.99 visited the emergency department with complaints of pain significantly more often than the other groups. Otherwise, we did not detect any differences in the secondary outcome measures between BMI groups. Conclusions Patients of all levels of obesity experienced significant improvement following elective thoracolumbar spine surgery. These outcomes were achieved without increased risk of postoperative complications such as infection and reoperation. A risk-benefit algorithm to assist with surgical decision making for obese patients would be valuable to surgeons and patients alike.

The Incidence of Adjacent Segment Breakdown in Polysegmental Thoracolumbar Fusions of Three or More Levels with Minimum 5-Year Follow-up.

Study Design Retrospective cohort study. Objective To identify the incidence of adjacent segment pathology (ASP) after thoracolumbar fusion of three or more levels, the risk factors for the development of ASP, and the need for further surgical intervention in this particular patient population. Methods A retrospective analysis of a prospective surgical database identified 217 patients receiving polysegmental (≥ 3 levels) spinal fusion with minimum 5-year follow-up. Risk factors were evaluated, and the following data were obtained from the review of radiographs and charts: radiographic measures-levels fused, fusion status, presence of ASP; clinical measures-patient assessment, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and the need for further surgery. Results The incidence of radiographic ASP (RASP) was 29%; clinical or symptomatic ASP (CASP), 18%; and those requiring surgery, 9%. Correlation was observed between ODI and ASP, symptomatic ASP, and need for revision surgery. Age, preoperative degenerative diagnosis, and absence of fusion demonstrated significant association to ASP. Conclusions ASP was observed in a significant number of patients receiving polysegmental fusion of three or more levels. ODI scores correlated to RASP, CASP, and the need for revision surgery.

Transforaminal epidural steroid injections prevent the need for surgery in patients with sciatica secondary to lumbar disc herniation: a retrospective case series.

BACKGROUND: The median orthopedic surgery wait time in Canada is 33.7 weeks, thus alternative treatments for pathologies such as lumbar disc herniations (LDH) are needed. We sought to determine whether transforaminal epidural steroid injections (TFESIs) alleviate or merely delay the need for surgery. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the charts of patients with LDH who received TFESIs between September 2006 and July 2008. Patient demographics, level and side of pathology, workers' compensation status, levels injected, treatment outcome and time from referral to treatment were evaluated. The primary outcome measure was the need for versus the avoidance of surgery. RESULTS: We included 91 patients in our analysis. Time from family physician referral to injection was 123 (standard deviation [SD] 88) days; no significant differences in wait times were found between TFESI patients and those requiring surgery. In all, 51 patients (22 women, 29 men) with a mean age of 45.8 (SD 10.2) years avoided surgery following TFESI, whereas 40 patients (16 women, 24 mean) with a mean age of 43.1 (SD 12.0) years proceeded to surgery within 189 (SD 125) days postinjection. In all, 15 patients received multiple injections, and of these, 9 did not require surgical intervention. Age, sex and level/side of pathology did not influence the treatment outcome. Workers' compensation status influenced outcome significantly; these patients demonstrated less benefit from TFESI. CONCLUSION: Transforaminal epidural steroid injections are an important treatment tool, preventing the need for surgery in 56% of patients with LDH.

Postoperative improvement in health-related quality of life: a national comparison of surgical treatment for focal (one- to two-level) lumbar spinal stenosis compared with total joint arthroplasty for osteoarthritis.

BACKGROUND CONTEXT: The results of single-center studies have shown that surgical intervention for lumbar spinal stenosis yielded comparable health-related quality of life (HRQoL) improvement to total joint arthroplasty (TJA). Whether these results are generalizable to routine clinical practice in Canada is unknown. PURPOSE: The primary purpose of this equivalence study was to compare the relative improvement in physical HRQoL after surgery for focal lumbar spinal stenosis (FLSS) compared with TJA for hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA) across six Canadian centers. STUDY DESIGN/SETTING: A Canadian multicenter ambispective cohort study. PATIENT SAMPLE: A cohort of 371 primary one- to two-level spinal decompression (n=214 with instrumented fusion) for FLSS (n=179 with degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis [DLS]) was compared with a cohort of primary total hip (n=156) and knee (n=208) arthroplasty for OA. OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was the change in preoperative to 2-year postoperative 36-Item Short Form Health Survey Physical Component Summary (PCS) score as reflected by the number of patients reaching minimal clinically important difference (MCID) and substantial clinical benefit (SCB). METHODS: Univariate analyses were conducted to identify baseline differences and factors that were significantly related to outcomes at 2 years. Multivariable regression modeling was used as our primary analysis to compare outcomes between groups. RESULTS: The mean age (years) and percent females for the spine, hip, and knee groups were 63.3/58.5, 66.0/46.9, and 65.8/64.3, respectively. All three groups experienced significant improvement of baseline PCS (p<.001). Multivariate analyses, adjusting for baseline differences (age, gender, baseline Mental Component Summary score, baseline PCS), demonstrated no significant differences in PCS outcome between spinal surgery and arthroplasty (combined hip and knee cohorts) patients with an odds ratio of 0.80 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.57-1.11; p=.17) and 0.79 (95% CI, 0.58-1.09; p=.15) for achieving MCID or SCB, respectively. In subgroup analysis, spine and knee outcomes were not significantly different, with hip arthroplasty superior to both (p<.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Significant improvement in physical HRQoL after surgical treatment of FLSS (including DLS) is consistently achieved nationally. Our overall results demonstrate that a comparable number of patients can expect to achieve MCID and SCB 2 years after surgical intervention for FLSS and total knee arthroplasty.