Incidental Durotomy in Lumbar Spine Surgery; Risk Factors, Complications, and Perioperative Management

OBJECTIVEIn the future, payers may not cover unplanned 90-day emergency room (ER) visits or readmissions after elective lumbar spine surgery. Prior studies using large administrative databases lack granularity and/or use a proxy for actual cost. The purpose of this study was to identify risk factors and subsequent costs associated with 90-day ER visits and readmissions after elective lumbar spine surgery.METHODSA prospective, multisurgeon, single-center electronic medical record was queried for elective lumbar spine fusion surgeries from 2013 to 2017. Predictive models were created for 90-day ER visits and readmissions.RESULTSOf 5444 patients, 729 (13%) returned to the ER, most often for pain (n = 213, 29%). Predictors of an ER visit were prior ER visit (OR 2.5), underserved zip code (OR 1.4), and number of chronic medical conditions (OR 1.4). In total, 421 (8%) patients were readmitted, most frequently for wound infection (n = 123, 2%), exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (n = 24, 0.4%), and sepsis (n = 23, 0.4%). Predictors for readmission were prior ER visit (OR 1.96), multiple chronic conditions (OR 1.69), obesity (nonobese, OR 0.49), race (African American, OR 1.43), admission status (ER admission, OR 2.29), and elevated hemoglobin A1c (OR 1.80). The mean direct hospital cost for an ER visit was $1971, with 75% of visits costing less than $1890, and the average readmission cost was $7347, with 75% of readmissions costing less than $8820. Over the 5-year study period, the cost to the institution for 90-day return ER visits was $5.1 million.CONCLUSIONSRisk factors for 90-day ER visit and readmission after elective lumbar spine surgery include medical comorbidities and socioeconomic factors. Proper patient counseling, appropriate postoperative pain management, and optimization of modifiable risk factors prior to surgery are areas to focus future efforts to lower 90-day ER visits and readmissions and reduce healthcare costs.

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P88 Identifying risk factors for multiple revisional lumbar spine surgery

Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry ◽

10.1136/jnnp-2019-abn.145 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 90 (3) ◽

pp. e45.1-e45

Author(s):

M El Sheikh ◽

K Badran ◽

O Kouli ◽

M Abdelsadg ◽

M Fadelalla ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Lumbar Spine ◽

Spine Surgery ◽

Disc Herniation ◽

Lumbar Disc ◽

Morbidity Rate ◽

Lumbar Spine Surgery ◽

Neurosurgical Department ◽

Primary Surgery ◽

Diabetes Status

ObjectivesRecurrent lumbar spine surgery due to disc herniation is a contributor to debilitating pain, disability, and carries a high patient morbidity rate1 We identified risk factors for recurrent lumbar disc herniation post-surgical intervention.DesignRetrospective Cohort Study.SubjectsAll adult lumbar spine revisions for disc herniation performed in the Neurosurgical Department at Ninewells Hospital.MethodsThe number of revisions from 2013 to 2017 for each patient was recorded and two groups were identified. The first group consisted of patients who had one revision and the second group consisted of patients who had recurrent revisions (more than one) Possible factors influencing the likelihood of recurrent revisions were also noted, including age, gender, BMI, operation length, level of surgery, time from primary surgery to revision, smoking and diabetes status.Results140 patients had revision surgeries, of which 87 (62.1%) had one revision while 53 (37.1%) had recurrent operations. Younger patients (p=0.025) and patients with higher BMI (p=0.01) were more likely to have a higher number of revisions. Patients with DM (p=0.015) were associated with a higher likelihood of recurrent revisions. Other factors had little effect on the likelihood of recurrent revisions (p>0.05).ConclusionsIdentifying risk factors that influence the recurrence of lumbar revisions helps improve patient outcome and decrease incidence of revisions.

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