The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society
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As research tools, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status classification system, the modified Charlson Comorbidity Index (mCCI), and the modified Frailty Index (mFI) have been associated with complications following spine procedures. However, with respect to clinical use for various adverse outcomes, no known study has compared the predictive performance of these indices specifically following posterior lumbar fusion (PLF). ⋯ For PLF, easily obtained patient ASA and age have overall similar or better discriminative abilities for perioperative adverse outcomes than numerically tabulated indices that have multiple inputs and are harder to implement in clinical practice.
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The importance of surgeon volume as a quality measure has been defined for a number of surgical specialties. Meaningful procedural volume benchmarks have not been established, however, particularly with respect to lumbar spine surgery. ⋯ The results of this work allow us to identify meaningful volume-based benchmarks for the performance of common lumbar spine surgical procedures including decompression, discectomy, and fusion-based procedures. Based on our determinations, readily achievable goals for individual surgeons would approximate an average of four discectomy and lumbar interbody fusion procedures per month, three posterolateral lumbar fusions per month, and at least one decompression surgery every other week.
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Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) and cervical disc replacement (CDR) are both acceptable surgical options for the treatment of cervical myelopathy and radiculopathy. To date, there are limited economic analyses assessing the relative cost-effectiveness of two-level ACDF versus CDR. ⋯ Two-level CDR and ACDF are both cost-effective strategies at 5 years. Neither strategy was found to be more cost-effective with an ICER greater than the $50,000/QALY WTP threshold. The assumptions used in the analysis were strongly validated with the results of the PSA.
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The aim of spinal deformity correction is to restore the spine's functional alignment by balancing it in both the sagittal and coronal planes. Regardless of posture, the ideal coronal profile is straight, and therefore readily assessable. ⋯ The supra-acetabular line (CSVL1) is better, although not ideal, as compared with the supra-iliac line (CSVL2) in determining coronal balance. Because CSVL1 still cannot be relied on with a high predictive value, it is imperative that future studies continue to identify better intraoperative markers for achieving coronal balance.
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Percutaneous endoscopic discectomy is a minimally invasive procedure for the surgical treatment of lumbar disc herniation (LDH). It can be performed under local anesthesia and requires a skin incision of only 8 mm, with minimal disruption of the spinal structures including ligaments and muscles. However, performing percutaneous endoscopic discectomy with a transforaminal approach (TF-PED) for the lower lumbar spine is associated with some anatomical problems, such as interference from the iliac crest. This study sought to assess the operability of TF-PED for the lower lumbar spine. ⋯ From the results of this study, the trajectory of TF-PED can be limited by the surrounding anatomical structures. The maximum inclination angle indicated that treatment for the central type of LDH at the L5-S1 disc level was considered more difficult than that at the L4-L5 disc level because of the iliac crest. In the clinical setting, such anatomical particularities can be overcome by using a more perpendicular approach (hand-down technique) with the possible addition of a foraminoplasty. Moreover, we found that we must consider the laterality of the trajectory of TF-PED in terms of the patients' age or sex.