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Less-invasive spine surgery safe for elderly patients

Older patients in Spine Tango registry had a higher complication risk but benefited from surgery.

Issue: Issue 4 2009

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MIAMI — The benefits of spine surgery for older patients, including less-invasive operations, seem to outweigh the risks associated with those procedures, according to a European research team.

Spine surgeons affiliated with the Spine Tango registry prospectively assessed: data on 11,954 patients from the registry; data on 284 patients from their own retrospective study; a meta-analysis of the literature; and a detailed analysis of patients' complications, function and age.

“We wanted to see if there was, in fact, a correlation between the rate of complications in spine surgery and patients’ age,” Rolf Sobottke, MD, of Cologne, Germany, said at the 36th Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine.

Comparing age groups

For the study, the investigators divided patients into four groups: those aged 45 years and younger, those aged 46 to 65 years, patients aged 66 to 78.7 years, and those aged older than 78.7 years.

“When we compared the meta-analysis of the literature, the results of the European Spine Tango register and our own study, we determined that there was not much of a difference in the complication rate for less-invasive spine surgery between older and younger patients,” he said.

Still, there was a greater correlation between increasing age and complication rate as the complexity of the procedure increased.

Age not a contraindication

“We noticed that the older two patient groups received measurable benefits from surgery independent of the extent or complexity of the surgery,” he added.

“We should keep in mind the risks of spine surgery. However, patients’ age should not be considered a contraindication for spinal surgery,” Sobottke noted.

For more information:

• Rolf Sobottke, MD, can be reached at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University Hospital of Cologne, Kerpener Str. 50924 Köln, Germany; +49-(0)-221-478-4616; e-mail: rolf.sobottke@uk-koeln.de. He has no direct financial interest in any products or companies mentioned in this article.

Reference:

• Sobottke R, Csèsei G, Kaulhausen T, et al. How risky is spinal surgery in the elderly? Paper #60. Presented at the 36th Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine. May 4-8, 2009. Miami.