RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Incidence of Respiratory Complications Following Lumbar Spine Surgery
JF International Journal of Spine Surgery
JO Int J Spine Surg
FD International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery
SP 718
OP 724
DO 10.14444/5090
VO 12
IS 6
A1 RAJAN MURGAI
A1 ANTHONY D'ORO
A1 PATRICK HEINDEL
A1 KYLE SCHOELL
A1 KAKU BARKOH
A1 ZORICA BUSER
A1 JEFFREY C. WANG
YR 2018
UL http://ijssurgery.com//content/12/6/718.abstract
AB Background: The purpose of this study is to assess the incidence, risk factors for, and types of respiratory complications occurring in patients undergoing lumbar spine surgery.Methods: Patients undergoing various lumbar spine surgeries from 2007 to 2014 were identified using the PearlDiver patient record database from the nationwide insurance provider Humana Inc. Patient records were analyzed using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision codes and Current Procedural Terminology codes to determine the incidence of pneumonia, pleural effusion, pulmonary collapse, and acute respiratory failure for each procedure type. The incidence of these complications in patients with the risk factors diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and smoking was also examined.Results: A total of 64,891 patients (33,280 females; 31,611 males) within the Humana database underwent various lumbar procedures from 2007 to 2014. The overall incidence of respiratory complications in patients undergoing lumbar procedures was 5.7% (n = 3694) within 1 month of having the procedure. Pulmonary collapse was the most common complication with an incidence of 4.3% (n = 2792), followed by pneumonia 1.98% (n = 1285), acute respiratory failure 1.97% (n = 1279), and pleural effusion 1.6% (n = 1048). For each respiratory complication studied, single level discectomy had the lowest complication rate and multilevel anterior lumbar interbody fusion had the highest complication rate. The incidence of each individual respiratory complication was higher in patients who had a history of smoking, COPD, or diabetes mellitus than it was in patients with none of these 3 risk factors (P < .01).Conclusion: The results of this study show that patients who have a history of smoking, COPD, or diabetes mellitus are at a greater risk for respiratory complications following lumbar spine surgery. These findings are useful for patient selection, clinical decision-making, and preoperative counseling.