Surgeons affiliated with the Scoliosis Research Society recently extracted data from the society's registry on morbidity and mortality to compare two different surgical approaches for deformity cases, and published their results in Spine.
Data was extracted from 2004 to 2007, when society collected specific details for all spine cases and complications as well as data from 2009 to 2011 when the society focused on a few major complications — death, neurologic deficit and blindness — for specific deformity diagnoses — scoliosis, spondylolisthesis and kyphosis.
The researchers found 131 deaths reported in 87,162 deformity cases from 2009 to 2011. Among the patients who died:
• Average age was 50
• Average American Society of Anesthesiologists grade was 2.8
• 10 percent were smokers
• 18 percent had diabetes
Common causes for death included respiratory, cardiac, sepsis, organ failure and blood loss. After comparing the simple and more detailed reporting systems, the researchers found among the simplified system:
• Greater surgeon compliance
• More deformity cases per reporting surgeon per year
• Similar mortality rates
"Compared with the detailed system, the simplified system had significantly improved compliance and similar mortality rates," concluded the authors. "Although the simplified system is limited by less data collection, it achieves better compliance and may prove effective, especially if supplemented with focused data collection methods."
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