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High early complication rates may be associated with adult cervical deformity surgery

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — The type of approach used during adult cervical deformity surgery may have a direct impact on the complication rates and severity of complications for patients, according to results of a study presented at the EuroSpine Annual Meeting, here.

In a study presented by Christopher P. Ames, MD, patients who underwent cervical deformity surgery with an anterior-only approach had comparatively less early complications within 30 days of surgery and less major complication than patients who had other approaches.

“Significantly higher rates of complications were associated with posterior-only and with combined approach procedures compared with anterior-only procedures,” he said.

The multicenter study included 78 adult patients who had cervical deformity surgery. Overall, 57.7% of patients developed at least one complication and 25.4% developed a major complication, he said. Dysphagia was the most common complication in the study, which accounted for 11.5% of the overall complications. About 9% of the dysphagia complications were minor and 2.6% were major, Ames said.

An anterior-only approach led to 27.3% of its patients developing a complication, compared with 68.4% of posterior approach patients and 79.3% of combination approach patients.

Ames noted that 14% of patients had an anterior-only approach, 49% of patients underwent a posterior-only approach, 35% of patients had an anterior-posterior approach and 3% of patients underwent a posterior-anterior-posterior approach. – by Robert Linnehan

Reference:

Smith J, et al. Paper #11. Presented at: EuroSpine Annual Meeting; Sept. 2-4, 2015; Copenhagen, Denmark.

Disclosures: Ames reports he receives grants and research support from DePuy Synthes Spine; is a consultant for DePuy, Medtronic and Stryker; is a stockholder in Baxano Surgical and Doctor’s Research Group; receives royalties from Aesculap, Biomet Spine; and is an employee of the University of California San Francisco.