An article in Clinical Spine Surgery outlines the major trends in anterior lumbar interbody fusion in the U.S.
The study authors relied on MarketScan data to examine the trends for ALIF from 2007 to 2014. The data included 49,945 patients who underwent ALIF. Study authors found:
1. The number of ALIF procedures jumped from 3,650 in 2007 to 6,151 in 2014.
2. ALIF procedures increased around 24.07 percent annually over the study period.
3. The Southern region of the U.S. performed the highest volume of ALIFs.
4. Degenerative disc disease and spondylolisthesis were the most common diagnoses for ALIF during the study period.
5. More than a third of the patients, 34.6 percent, with ALIF had multilevel fusions.
6. Iron deficiency, anemia, urinary tract infections and pulmonary complications were the most common complications associated with ALIF.
7. Over the study period, pay for both physicians and hospitals "increased significantly."
8. The study authors concluded, "Our study reaffirms prior work that has demonstrated low rates of complications, mortality and readmission following ALIF."