Study: Patients have better outcomes after spine osteotomy with two surgeons

Spine surgery performed by more than one attending physician is shorter and has fewer complications while patients have shorter hospital stays and less blood loss compared to surgery performed by one surgeon, according to researchers from University of California, San Francisco.

“There is no way we would go back to how we used to perform these surgeries with single surgeons,” Vedat Deviren, MD, stated in a press release.

Deviren and a neurosurgeon compared results of patients who underwent pedicle subtraction osteotomy with either a single surgeon or two attending surgeons, according to the abstract. The 42 patients in the group with two attending surgeons had a mean 35% blood loss compared to mean 109% in the single surgeon group. The mean estimated blood loss was also higher in the single surgeon group, at 5,278 mL compared to 2,003 mL.

Additionally, surgical time decreased from 7.6 hours in the single surgeon group to 5 hours in the group with two surgeons. Regarding complications, 45% of patients in the single surgeon series experienced at least one major complication within 30 days of surgery, while 25% of patients with two surgeons had complications within 30 days, according to the abstract.

Reference:

Ames CP. Spine Deformity. 2013;doi:10.1016/j.jspd.2012.10.004.

Disclosure: Ames is a consultant for DePuy, Medtronic, Stryker, receives royalties from Aescular and LAWX and receives stock options from Trans1, Doctors Research Group and Visulase. Deviren is a consultant and receives an honorarium for Stryker, NuVasive, Guidepoint and Medtronic.