Study finds outpatient ACDF feasible based on 30-day outcomes

ORLANDO, Fla. — Outpatient anterior cervical discectomy and fusion may be a reasonable option for appropriate patients based on the results of a database analysis presented at Spine Summit 2016: CNS/AANS Section on Disorders of the Spine & Peripheral Nerves Annual Meeting.

Ryan Khanna, MD, and colleagues identified 6,940 patients from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database who underwent single-level anterior discectomy and fusion (ACDF) between 2006 and 2013. They found the patients had an overall complication rate of 4.2%.

Khanna and colleagues performed 1:1 propensity score matching of the patients for their study.

After applying the patients’ propensity scores to the data, the investigators compared the 30-day outcomes of patients based on whether their procedures were performed as inpatient or outpatient surgeries.

“Patients undergoing outpatient single-level ACDFs had a lower 30-day complication rate than those undergoing inpatient ACDF after the propensity score analysis. The main take-away is that using this, based on the analysis, outpatient surgery for single-level ACDF for suitable patients is safe and favorable,” Khanna said during the presentation.

In other findings from the study, after matching, the 30-day readmission rate was 2.2% for patients in the inpatient ACDF group and 1.1% for patients in the outpatient ACDF group. — by Susan M. Rapp

For more information:

Khanna R, et al. Paper #124. Presented at: Spine Summit 2016: CNS/AANS Section on Disorders of the Spine & Peripheral Nerves Annual Meeting; March 16-19, 2016; Orlando, Fla.

Disclosure: Khanna reports no relevant financial disclosures.