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Children's complication risk after spinal surgery increases with certain factors
Children undergoing spinal surgery have a lower chance of developing venous thromboembolic complications or pulmonary embolism postoperatively, but certain factors increase the risk.
Using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database, researchers retrospectively identified children 18 years or younger who had spinal fusion surgery between 2001 and 2010 and developed deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolisms after the procedure.
During the period studied, the mean incidence of venous thromboembolic (VTE) complications in children was 21 events per every 10,000 spinal fusions, whereas the mean incidence of pulmonary embolism was two events per 10,000 spinal fusions.
Through multivariate logistic regression analysis, the researchers found that the incidence of VTE complications was significantly higher in children with congenital scoliosis, syndromic scoliosis/kyphoscoliosis and thoracolumbar fractures compared with children with idiopathic scoliosis.
Univariate analysis demonstrated that in addition to having one of these diagnoses, age was also significantly associated with the development of VTE complications, with incidence risk increasing 1.37-fold for each year of age.
Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.