A new study published in Spine examines the economics of incidental durotomy in spine surgery.
The study authors conducted a retrospective review of prospectively collected data on morbidity and mortality; they identified patients with incidental durotomy from Jan. 1, 2012 to Jan. 11, 2013. The patients with dural tears were matched with a control group to compare charges. There were 57 patients with incidental durotomy and two patients without dural tears matched for each of the incidental durotomy patients.
Here are five things to know:
1. The patients with the incidental durotomy reported longer operative times; they had around 30 minutes longer operative times than the control group.
2. The patients with incidental durotomy reported a slightly longer length of stay — 0.89 days longer than the control group.
3. Incidental durotomy increased the average initial hospital charge 18 percent.
4. There wasn't an increase in the surgeon-based charges or hospital-based charges "after the initial visit was identified."
5. The researchers concluded incidental durotomy was associated with significant increases in hospital charges for spine surgery patients.