Analysis of Postoperative Complications in Spinal Surgery, Hospital Length of Stay, and Unplanned Readmission: Application of Dindo-Clavien Classification to Spine Surgery. Issue 3 (May 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Camino Willhuber, Gaston; Elizondo, Cristina; Slullitel, Pablo
• Is Part Of: Global spine journal. Volume 9:Issue 3(2019)
• Page Start: 279
• Page End: 286
• Publication Date: 2019-05
• Subjects: postoperative complication -- Dindo-Clavien classification -- hospital length of stay -- unplanned readmission; Spine -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Spine -- Diseases -- Treatment -- Periodicals; Spine -- Abnormalities -- Periodicals; Spine -- Surgery -- Periodicals; 616.73
• DOI: 10.1177/2192568218792053
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2192-5682

Abstract

Study Design: Retrospective study. Level of evidence III. Objective: Postoperative complications in spine surgery are associated with increased morbidity, hospital length of stay, and health care costs. Registry of complications in orthopedics and the spine surgery is heterogeneous. Methods: Between July 2016 and June 2017, 274 spinal surgeries were performed, the presence of postoperative complications was analyzed at 90 days (according to the classification of Dindo-Clavien, grades I-V), hospital length of stay, surgical complexity (low, medium, and high), unplanned readmission, and risk factors were evaluated. Results: A total of 79 patients suffered a complication (28.8%), of them 21 (26.7%) were grade I, 24 (30.3%) were grade II, 4 (5.7%) were grade IIIA, and 29 (37.3%) were grade IIIB. There were no IV and V grade cases. The most frequent complication was excessive pain followed by deep wound infection and anemia. Surgical complexity and surgical time were significantly associated with the risk of developing a complication. The average number of hospital length of stay in patients without and with complications were 2.7 and 10.6, respectively, and the unplanned readmission rate was 11%. Conclusions: Registry of postoperative complications allows the correct standardization and risk factors required to establish measures to decrease them, the application of Dindo-Clavien classification was useful for the purpose of our study.