Back surgery comes with major complications

According to a research published in the Spine, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class, age, and type of back surgery are independent risk factors for major medical complications. Richard A. Deyo, M.D., from the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, and colleagues utilized the Veterans Affairs National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database to identify 12,154 patients who underwent surgery for a primary diagnosis of lumbar stenosis between 1998 and 2009. Major medical complications were defined using a composite which included acute myocardial infarction, stroke, pulmonary embolism, pneumonia, systemic sepsis, coma, and cardiac arrest. The researchers found that major medical complications occurred in 2.1% of patients, wound complications in 3.2%, and 90-day mortality in 0.6%. There was a strong association with age and major medical complications, but not wound complications. “These factors may help in selecting patients and planning procedures, improving patient safety”, the authors write.