European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Complications in lumbar fusion surgery for chronic low back pain: comparison of three surgical techniques used in a prospective randomized study. A report from the Swedish Lumbar Spine Study Group.
The reported complication rates after various surgical techniques used to create a lumbar fusion vary within wide ranges. In a previous paper, the Swedish Lumbar Spine Study Group have reported on the clinical outcome of lumbar spine fusion for chronic low back pain in a comparably homogeneous patient population where there were no significant differences between baseline sociodemographic, clinical and paraclinical characteristics. In this report we compared the complication rates of the surgical procedures used in that study and analyzed the association between complications and baseline variables, and between outcome results and complications. ⋯ Even though we did not find a significant association between clinical outcome and complications after 2 years, the increased morbidity inflicted on an individual patient was not negligible. In this light, and as no fusion technique produced superior clinical outcome irrespective of whether complications were included or excluded in the analyses, the patient and the treating physician should carefully discuss the possible advantages and drawbacks of the different surgical options before making a decision. In order to make valid comparisons of both complication and reintervention rates after lumbar fusion, there is a need for a consensus in the spinal society regarding the definition of these entities.