A patient's sex is not associated with surgical or clinical outcomes after minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion, according to a study in Clinical Spine Surgery.
The researchers retrospectively reviewed the patient-reported outcome measures of 169 patients undergoing primary, single-level MIS TLIF. The patients were 40.83 percent female and 59.17 percent male.
Five notes:
1. Female patients experienced greater inpatient pain scores than male patients. Female patients also had significantly greater Oswestry Disability Index and Visual Analog Scale leg scores than males.
2. The researchers observed no differences in postoperative improvements in ODI, VAS back or leg pain scores.
3. There were no differences in minimum clinically important difference achievement for patient-reported outcomes between male and female patients.
4. Patients' gender was not associated with differences in length of stay, perioperative complication rates or narcotics consumption.
5. The study authors conclude that gender should not be a predictor of MIS TLIF outcomes.