A new study published in Clinical Spine Surgery examines short term outcomes for cervical laminoplasty patients compared with posterior decompression and fusion for multilevel cervical pathology.
The researchers examined 779 patients — 437 who underwent cervical decompression and fusion and 342 who underwent cervical laminoplasty. The researchers used the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program to gather information for surgeries from 2010 to 2012. The researchers found:
1. Decompression and fusion patients were more comorbid at baseline than laminoplasty patients; these patients had increased American Society of Anesthesiologist scores and Charleston Comorbidity Index scores.
2. Decompression and fusion patients had a 1.2 day longer length of stay on average than the laminoplasty patients.
3. There was greater risk of adverse events among the decompression and fusion patients.
4. The decompression and fusion patients had a higher rate of adverse events than the laminoplasty patients.
5. The laminoplasty patients were less likely to undergo hospital readmissions than the decompression and fusion patients.
“The information provided here can be used to inform patients and surgeons about the likely perioperative experience after they have made the decision to pursue one of these two procedures,” concluded the study authors.