Table 6. Operative treatments, complications and events.
DS
Specific procedures†
Decompression only
Non-instrumented fusion
Instrumented fusion
Multi-level fusion
Decompression level
L2-L3
L3-L4
L4-L5
L5-S1
Levels decompressed
None
1
2
3+
Operation time, minutes (SD)
Blood loss, cc (SD)
Blood Replacement
Intraoperative replacement
Post-operative transfusion
Length of hospital stay, days (SD)
Intraoperative complications§
Dural tear/ spinal fluid leak
Vascular injury
Other
None
Postoperative complications/events¶
Nerve root injury
Wound dehiscence
Wound hematoma
Wound infection
Other
None
Post-operative mortality (death within 6
weeks of surgery)
Post-operative mortality (death within 3
months of surgery)
Additional surgeries (1-year rate)||
Additional surgeries (2-year rate)||
Additional surgeries (3-year rate)||
Additional surgeries (4-year rate)||
One year or less
(n=251)
More than one
year
(n=138)
6 months or
less
(n=149)
7 to 12
months
(n=102)
More than one
year
(n=138)
17 ( 7%)
48 (20%)
181 (74%)
49 (20%)
7 ( 5%)
33 (24%)
96 (71%)
42 (30%)
9 ( 6%)
25 (17%)
114 (77%)
34 (23%)
8 ( 8%)
23 (23%)
67 (68%)
15 (15%)
7 ( 5%)
33 (24%)
96 (71%)
42 (30%)
25 (10%)
122 (50%)
240 (97%)
68 (28%)
20 (15%)
67 (50%)
134 (98%)
45 (33%)
14 (10%)
72 (49%)
144 (97%)
42 (29%)
11 (11%)
50 (50%)
96 (96%)
26 (26%)
20 (15%)
67 (50%)
134 (98%)
45 (33%)
3 ( 1%)
105 (42%)
92 (37%)
51 (20%)
201.7 (81.5)
550.2 (432.3)
1 ( 1%)
54 (39%)
46 (33%)
37 (27%)
215.2 (86.8)
638.8 (525.8)
0.13
0.075
1 ( 1%)
59 (40%)
60 (40%)
29 (19%)
199.2 (78.2)
516.9 (383.9)
2 ( 2%)
46 (45%)
32 (31%)
22 (22%)
205.4 (86.6)
599.4 (493.2)
1 ( 1%)
54 (39%)
46 (33%)
37 (27%)
215.2 (86.8)
638.8 (525.8)
0.27
0.081
76 (31%)
45 (18%)
4.8 (3.6)
56 (41%)
36 (26%)
7.2 (31.3)
0.063
0.096
0.25
42 (28%)
25 (17%)
4.9 (3.7)
34 (34%)
20 (20%)
4.7 (3.5)
56 (41%)
36 (26%)
7.2 (31.3)
0.094
0.16
0.51
22 (9%)
0 (0%)
6 (2%)
223 (89%)
19 (14%)
1 (1%)
3 (2%)
117 (85%)
0.17
0.76
0.83
0.32
12 (8%)
0 (0%)
3 (2%)
134 (90%)
10 (10%)
0 (0%)
3 (3%)
89 (87%)
19 (14%)
1 (1%)
3 (2%)
117 (85%)
0.28
0.40
0.88
0.42
1 (0%)
0 (0%)
0 (0%)
4 (2%)
22 (9%)
180 (73%)
0 (0%)
1 (1%)
1 (1%)
7 (5%)
15 (11%)
87 (63%)
0.77
0.77
0.77
0.10
0.66
0.051
1 (1%)
0 (0%)
0 (0%)
1 (1%)
16 (11%)
110 (74%)
0 (0%)
0 (0%)
0 (0%)
3 (3%)
6 (6%)
70 (71%)
0 (0%)
1 (1%)
1 (1%)
7 (5%)
15 (11%)
87 (63%)
0.45
0.41
0.41
0.083
0.39
0.10
1 (0.4%)
0 (0%)
0.76
0 (0%)
1 (1%)
0 (0%)
0.25
2 (0.8%)
17 (7%)
29 (11%)
33 (13%)
35 (14%)
0 (0%)
8 (6%)
19 (14%)
21 (15%)
23 (17%)
0.76
0.73
0.51
0.55
0.46
1 (0.7%)
11 (7%)
19 (13%)
21 (14%)
21 (14%)
1 (1%)
6 (6%)
10 (10%)
12 (12%)
14 (14%)
0 (0%)
8 (6%)
19 (14%)
21 (15%)
23 (17%)
0.55
0.83
0.616
0.716
0.754
p-value
0.48
0.021
0.23
0.97
0.79
0.28
0.52
p-value
0.45
0.017
0.37
0.99
0.70
0.45
0.52
One year or less
(n=251)
More than one
year
(n=138)
6 months or
less
(n=149)
7 to 12
months
(n=102)
DS
p-value
Recurrent stenosis / progressive
listhesis
11 (5%)
8 (6%)
6 (4%)
5 (5%)
Pseudarthrosis / fusion exploration
2 (0.8%)
2 (1.5%)
0
2 (2.1%)
Complication or Other
16 (6.5%)
9 (6.6%)
10 (6.8%)
6 (6.1%)
New condition
5 (2.1%)
4 (2.9%)
4 (2.7%)
1
* Surgical information was available for 149 patients with duration of symptoms 6 months or less, 102 patients with
duration of symptoms 7 to 12 months and 138 patients with duration of symptoms one year or more.
† Specific procedure data were available for 148 patients with duration of symptoms 6 months or less, 98 patients with
duration of symptoms 7 to 12 months and 136 patients with duration of smyptoms more than one year.
§ No cases were reported of aspiration into the respiratory tract or operation at wrong level.
¶ Complications or events occurring up to 8 weeks after surgery are listed. There were no reported cases of bonegraft complication, cerebrospinal fluid leak, paralysis, cauda equina injury or pseudarthrosis.
||Rates of repeated surgery at 1, 2,3,and 4 years are Kaplan-Meier estimates. P values were calculated with the use
of the log-rank test. Numbers and percentages are based on the first additional surgery if more than one additional
surgery.
More than one
year
(n=138)
8 (6%)
2 (1.5%)
9 (6.6%)
4 (2.9%)
p-value