A study published in the recent issue of The Spine Journal analyzed the perioperative costs associated with single-level minimally invasive and open transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion.
The study, led by Kern Singh, MD, examined 66 consecutive patients undergoing single-level transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion either through open or minimally invasive procedures. There were 33 patients in each group and each patient had a diagnosis of degenerative disc disease or spondylolisthesis and stenosis.
The researchers found:
• Average surgical time was shorter for MIS (115.8 minutes) than open TLIF (186 minutes)
• Length of stay was shorter for MIS (2.3 days) than open TLIF (2.9 days)
• Anesthesia time and EBL time was lower in the MIS group
• VAS scores decreased for both groups, but were significantly lower for the MIS group
• MIS had lower direct hospital costs ($19,512) than the open group ($23,550)
• Implant costs were similar in both groups, but accounted for two-thirds of direct costs in the MIS group (13,764) and half in the open group ($13,778)
• Hospital payments were higher for the open TLIF patients than the MIS group
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