•Current literature suggests comparable Ti and PEEK cage spinal fusion rates.•Of the 2 cage materials, Ti is associated with increased subsidence.•Prospective studies should identify the benefits of ...one material over the other.
Spinal interbody fusion is a standard and accepted method for spinal fusion. Interbody fusion devices include titanium (Ti) and polyetheretherketone (PEEK) cages with distinct biomechanical properties. Titanium and PEEK cages have been evaluated in the cervical and lumbar spine, with conflicting results in bony fusion and subsidence. Using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we reviewed the available literature evaluating Ti and PEEK cages to assess subsidence and fusion rates. Six studies were included in the analysis, 3 of which were class IV evidence, 2 were class III, and 1 was class II. A total of 410 patients (Ti-228, PEEK-182) and 587 levels (Ti-327, PEEK-260) were studied. Pooled mean age was 50.8years in the Ti group, and 53.1years in the PEEK group. Anterior cervical discectomy was performed in 4 studies (395 levels) and transforaminal interbody fusion in 2 studies (192 levels). No statistically significant difference was found between groups with fusion (OR 1.16, 95% C.I 0.59–2.89, p=0.686, I2=49.7%) but there was a statistically significant the rate of subsidence with titanium (OR 3.59, 95% C.I 1.28–10.07, p=0.015, I2=56.9%) at last follow-up. Titanium and PEEK cages are associated with a similar rate of fusion, but there is an increased rate of subsidence with titanium cage. Future prospective randomized controlled trials are needed to further evaluate these cages using surgical and patient-reported outcomes.
Retrospective cohort study.
To compare short- and long-term outcomes in obese versus nonobese patients undergoing instrumented posterolateral fusion of the lumbar spine.
Obesity is an important ...public health issue due to the negative effects on quality of life. Some studies have shown an association between obesity and higher rates of complications and unfavorable outcomes after spine surgery.
We retrospectively reviewed medical records for all adult patients undergoing 1- to 3-level posterolateral fusion for degenerative spine disease between 1992 and 2012 at a single institution. Patients were divided into obese (body mass index > 30 kg/m) and nonobese cohorts to compare complications, reoperation rates, and symptom resolution at the last follow-up. A regression model was used to estimate relative risk ratios.
During the study period, 732 patients underwent lumbar fusion, with 662 (90.44%) nonobese patients and 70 (9.56%) obese patients in the cohort. Obese patients had significantly higher blood loss intraoperatively (P = 0.002) and a longer average length of stay (P = 0.022). Moreover, obesity was independently associated with a significantly increased risk of developing a postoperative complication (risk ratio 2.14; 95% confidence interval, 1.10-4.16) and surgical site infection (risk ratio 3.11; 95% confidence interval, 1.48-6.52). At the last follow-up, a higher proportion of obese patients had radiculopathy (P = 0.018), motor deficits (P = 0.006), sensory deficits (P = 0.008), and bowel or bladder dysfunction (P = 0.006) than nonobese patients.
In this study, obese patients undergoing lumbar fusion had higher blood loss, longer lengths of stay, higher complication rates, and worse functional outcomes at the last follow-up than nonobese patients. These findings suggest that both surgeons and patients should acknowledge the significantly increased morbidity profile of obese patients after lumbar fusion.
Background Acute spinal cord injury (ASCI) is a catastrophic event that can profoundly affect the trajectory of a patient's life. Debate continues over the pharmacologic management of ASCI, ...specifically, the widespread but controversial use of the steroid methylprednisolone (MP). Treatment efforts are impeded because of limitations in understanding of the pathobiology of ASCI and the difficulty in proving the efficacy of therapies. Methods This review presents the pathophysiology of ASCI and the laboratory and clinical findings on the use of MP. Results The use of MP remains a contentious issue in part because of the catastrophic nature of ASCI, the paucity of treatment options, and the legal ramifications. Although historical data on the use of MP in ASCI have been challenged, more recent studies have been used both to support and to oppose treatment of ASCI with steroids. Conclusions ASCI is a devastating event with a complex aftermath of secondary damaging processes that worsen the initial injury. Although the results of NASCIS (National Acute Spinal Cord Injury Study) II and III trials led to the widespread adoption of a high-dose MP regimen for patients treated within 8 hours of injury, subsequent studies have called into question the validity of NASCIS conclusions. Further evidence of the ineffectiveness of the MP protocol has led to declining confidence in the treatment over the last decade. At the present time, high-dose MP cannot be recommended as a standard of care, but it remains an option until supplanted by future evidence-based therapies.
Study Design:
Retrospective review.
Objectives:
This study investigates the prevalence of adverse postsurgical events, or osteoporosis-related complications (ORCs), following spinal fusion.
Methods:
...Patients undergoing primary posterior thoracolumbar or lumbar fusion by 1 of 2 surgeons practicing at a single institution were analyzed from 2007 to 2014. ORCs were defined in one of the following categories: revision surgery, compression fracture, proximal junctional kyphosis, pseudarthrosis, or failure of instrumentation. Patients with a bone mineral density of the hips and/or spine performed within 1 year of the index procedure were included. Patients were stratified into normal bone density, osteopenia, and osteoporosis using WHO guidelines. Patients were excluded if they were younger than 18 years at the time of surgery, with infection, malignancy, skeletal dysplasia, neuromuscular disorders, concomitant or staged anterior-posterior procedure, or fusion performed because of trauma.
Results:
Out of 140 patients included, the prevalence of normal bone density was 31.4% (44/140), osteopenia 58.6% (82/140), and osteoporosis 10.0% (14/140). There were no differences between groups for gender, age, body mass index, and interbody device rate. The overall prevalence of ORCs was 32.1% (45/140). By group, there was a prevalence of 22.7% (10/44), 32.9% (27/82), and 50.0% (7/14) for normal bone density, osteopenia, and osteoporosis, respectively. These differences were significantly higher for both the osteopenia and osteoporosis groups.
Conclusions:
Patients with T scores below −1.0 undergoing posterior lumbar fusion have an increased prevalence of ORCs. Consideration of bone density plays a crucial role in patient selection, medical management, and counseling patient expectations.
There is a paucity of literature investigating the clinical course of patients with spinal intramedullary cavernous malformations (ISCMs). We present a large case series of ISCMs to describe clinical ...presentation, natural history and outcomes of both surgical and conservative management.
We retrospectively reviewed the clinical course of patients diagnosed with ISCMs at our institution between 1995 and 2016. Haemorrhage was defined as clinical worsening in tandem with imaging changes visualised on follow-up MRI. Outcomes assessed included neurological status and annual haemorrhage rates.
A total of 107 patients met inclusion criteria. Follow-up data were available for 85 patients. While 21 (24.7%) patients underwent immediate surgical resection, 64 (75.3%) were initially managed conservatively. Among this latter group, 16 (25.0%) suffered a haemorrhage during follow-up and 11 (17.2%) required surgical resection due to interval bleeding or neurological worsening. The overall annual risk of haemorrhage was 5.5% per person year. The rate among patients who were symptomatic and asymptomatic on presentation was 9.5% and 0.8%, respectively. Median time to haemorrhage was 2.3 years (0.1-12.3). Univariate analysis identified higher ISCM size (p=0.024), history of prior haemorrhage (p=0.013) and presence of symptoms (p=0.003) as risk factors for subsequent haemorrhage. Multivariable proportional hazards analysis revealed presence of symptoms to be independently associated with haemorrhage during follow-up (HR 9.39, CI 1.86 to 170.8, p=0.013).
Large, symptomatic ISCMs appear to be at increased risk for subsequent haemorrhage. Surgery may be considered in such lesions to prevent rebleeding and subsequent neurological worsening.
Metastasis to the spinal column is a common feature of primary tumors of the breast, prostate, lung, and other organs. Surgical intervention can be performed via the traditional open surgery (OS) ...approach or the minimally invasive surgery (MIS) approach. This study aims to assess the available evidence of perioperative outcomes of MIS versus OS for patients with metastatic spinal disease.
We followed recommended PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews. Six electronic databases were searched to identify all potentially relevant studies published from inception to October 2017. Data were extracted and analyzed using meta-analysis of proportions.
Six studies satisfied the criteria for inclusion into this study. There were 292 patients with metastatic spinal disease described in the cohort, treated with either MIS (n = 155, 53%) or OS (n = 137, 47%). Compared with OS, MIS resulted in statistically significant reduction in blood loss (mean difference, −601.48 mL; P < 0.001) and length of stay (mean difference, −4.60 days; P = 0.002). In terms of complications, MIS had a significantly reduced incidence compared with OS (21/155 14% and 37/136 27%, respectively; odds ratio, 0.41; P = 0.005). In terms of operation duration (P = 0.43), postoperative functional (P = 0.76) and pain (P = 0.84) outcomes, MIS was noninferior to OS.
Surgical intervention by an MIS approach in patients with metastatic spinal disease seems to provide equivalent outcomes compared with OS and reduces morbidity and length of stay. Future studies that are larger, prospective, and longer-term will validate the findings of this study and elucidate the optimal role for MIS in the surgical management of metastatic spinal disease.
•Optimizing management that incorporates surgical intervention to alleviate symptoms in cases of metastatic spinal disease is important.•It is difficult to advocate for one approach to be superior to the other in all cases due to heterogeneity of spinal metastatic disease.•There may be a subgroup of metastatic spinal disease patients in which MIS may provide more ideal perioperative outcomes.•The composition, and the quantification of such benefits in terms of overall survival and QoL remain elusive for now.
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating condition with limited pharmacological treatment options to restore function. Regenerative approaches have recently attracted interest as an adjuvant to ...current standard of care. Adipose tissue-derived (AD) mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) represent a readily accessible cell source with high proliferative capacity. The CELLTOP study, an ongoing multidisciplinary phase 1 clinical trial conducted at Mayo Clinic (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03308565), is investigating the safety and efficacy of intrathecal autologous AD-MSCs in patients with blunt, traumatic SCI. In this initial report, we describe the outcome of the first treated patient, a 53-year-old survivor of a surfing accident who sustained a high cervical American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale grade A SCI with subsequent neurologic improvement that plateaued within 6 months following injury. Although he improved to an American Spinal Injury Association grade C impairement classification, the individual continued to be wheelchair bound and severely debilitated. After study enrollment, an adipose tissue biopsy was performed and MSCs were isolated, expanded, and cryopreserved. Per protocol, the patient received an intrathecal injection of 100 million autologous AD-MSCs infused after a standard lumbar puncture at the L3-4 level 11 months after the injury. The patient tolerated the procedure well and did not experience any severe adverse events. Clinical signs of efficacy were observed at 3, 6, 12, and 18 months following the injection in both motor and sensory scores based on International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury. Thus, in this treated individual with SCI, intrathecal administration of AD-MSCs was feasible and safe and suggested meaningful signs of improved, rather than stabilized, neurologic status warranting further clinical evaluation.
Frailty is an increasingly studied tool for preoperative risk stratification, but its prognostic value for anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) patients is unclear. We sought to evaluate ...the association of the 5-item modified Frailty Index (5i-mFI) with 30-day adverse outcomes following ACDF and its predictive performance compared with other common metrics.
The National Surgical Quality Improvement Program was queried from 2016–2018 for patients undergoing elective ACDF for degenerative diseases. Outcomes of interest included 30-day complications, extended length of stay (LOS), non−home discharge, and unplanned readmissions. Unadjusted/adjusted odds ratios were calculated. The discriminatory performance of the 5i-mFI compared with age, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification, and body mass index was computed using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).
A total of 23,754 patients were identified. On adjusted analysis, an index of 1 was significantly associated with extended LOS, non−home discharge, and unplanned readmissions (P < 0.001, P = 0.023, P = 0.003, respectively), but not complications (all P > 0.05). An index ≥2 was significantly associated with each outcome (all P < 0.001). The 5i-mFI was found to have a significantly higher AUC than body mass index for each outcome, a similar AUC compared with ASA classification and age for complications and unplanned readmissions, and a significantly lower AUC than ASA classification and age for extended LOS and non−home discharge.
The 5i-mFI was found to be significantly associated with 30-day adverse outcomes following ACDF but had similar or lesser predictive performance compared with more universally available and easily implemented metrics, such as ASA classification and age.
Background
En bloc spondylectomy is the gold standard for surgical resection of sacral chordomas (CHO), but the effect of extent of resection on recurrence and survival in patients with CHO of the ...cervical spine remains elusive.
Methods
MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, and Cochrane were systematically reviewed. Patients with cervical CHO treated at three tertiary-care academic institutions were reviewed for inclusion. We performed an individual participant data meta-analysis to assess the overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) after en bloc-gross total resection (GTR) and intralesional-GTR compared to subtotal resection (STR). We then performed an intention-to-treat analysis including all patients with attempted en bloc resection in the en bloc group, regardless of the surgical margins.
Results
There was a total of 13 series including 161 patients with cervical CHO, including our current series of 22 patients. GTR (en bloc-GTR + intralesional-GTR) was associated with a significant decrease in the risk of local progression (pooled hazard ratio (PHR) = 0.22; 95% CI 0.08–0.59;
p
= 0.003) and risk of death (PHR 0.31; 95%; CI 0.12–0.83;
p
= 0.020). A meta-regression analyses determined that intralesional-GTR improved PFS (PHR 0.35; 95% CI 0.16–0.76;
p
= 0.009) as well as OS (PHR 0.25; 95% CI 0.08–0.79;
p
= 0.019) when compared to STR. En bloc-GTR was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of local progression (PHR 0.06; 95% CI 0.01–0.77; p = 0.030), but not a decreased OS (PHR 0.50; 95% CI 0.19–1.27;
p
= 0.145). Our intention-to-treat analyses revealed a near significant improvement in OS for the en bloc group (PHR: 0.15; 95% CI 0.02–1.22; p = 0.054), and nearly identical improvement in PFS. Radiation data was not available for the studies included in the meta-analysis.
Conclusion
This is the first and only meta-analysis of patients with cervical CHO. We found that both en bloc-GTR and intralesional-GTR resulted in improved local tumor control when compared to STR.
OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to report the long-term clinical outcomes following 3- and 4-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF). METHODS A retrospective review of all adult ...neurosurgical patients undergoing elective ACDF for degenerative disease at a single institution between 1996 and 2013 was performed. Patients who underwent first-time 3- or 4-level ACDF were included; patients with previous cervical spine surgery, those undergoing anterior/posterior approaches, and those with corpectomy were excluded. Outcome measures included perioperative complication rates, fusion rates, need for revision surgery, Nurick Scores, Odom's criteria, symptom resolution, neck visual analog scale (VAS) pain score, and persistent narcotics usage. RESULTS Seventy-one patients who underwent 3-level ACDF and 26 patients who underwent 4-level ACDF were identified and followed for an average of 7.6 ± 4.2 years. There was 1 case (3.9%) of deep wound infection in the 4-level group and 1 case in the 3-level group (1.4%; p = 0.454). Postoperatively, 31% of patients in the 4-level group complained of dysphagia, compared with 12.7% in the 3-level group (p = 0.038). The fusion rate was 84.6% after 4-level ACDF and 94.4% after 3-level ACDF (p = 0.122). At last follow-up, a significantly higher proportion of patients in the 4-level group continued to have axial neck pain (53.8%) than in the 3-level group (31%; p = 0.039); the daily oral morphine equivalent dose was significantly higher in the 4-level group (143 ± 97 mg/day) than in the 3-level group (25 ± 10 mg/day; p = 0.030). Outcomes based on Odom's criteria were also different between cohorts (p = 0.044), with a significantly lower proportion of patients in the 4-level ACDF group experiencing an excellent/good outcome. CONCLUSIONS In this study, patients who underwent 4-level ACDF had significantly higher rates of dysphagia, postoperative neck pain, and postoperative narcotic usage when compared with patients who underwent 3-level ACDF. Pseudarthrosis and deep wound infection rates were also higher in the 4-level group, although this did not reach statistical significance. Additionally, a smaller proportion of patients achieved a good/excellent outcome in the 4-level group than in the 3-level group. These findings suggest a significant increase of perioperative morbidity and worsened outcomes for patients who undergo 4- versus 3-level ACDF.
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