Browsing by Author "Puvanesarajah, Varun"

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    Incidence of perioperative medical complications and mortality among elderly patients undergoing surgery for spinal deformity: analysis of 3519 patients.
    (Journal of neurosurgery. Spine, 2017-11) Jain, Amit; Hassanzadeh, Hamid; Puvanesarajah, Varun; Klineberg, Eric O; Sciubba, Daniel M; Kelly, Michael P; Hamilton, D Kojo; Lafage, Virginie; Buckland, Aaron J; Passias, Peter G; Protopsaltis, Themistocles S; Lafage, Renaud; Smith, Justin S; Shaffrey, Christopher I; Kebaish, Khaled M; International Spine Study Group
    OBJECTIVE Using 2 complication-reporting methods, the authors investigated the incidence of major medical complications and mortality in elderly patients after surgery for adult spinal deformity (ASD) during a 2-year follow-up period. METHODS The authors queried a multicenter, prospective, surgeon-maintained database (SMD) to identify patients 65 years or older who underwent surgical correction of ASD from 2008 through 2014 and had a minimum 2 years of follow-up (n = 153). They also queried a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services claims database (MCD) for patients 65 years or older who underwent fusion of 8 or more vertebral levels from 2005 through 2012 (n = 3366). They calculated cumulative rates of the following complications during the first 6 weeks after surgery: cerebrovascular accident, congestive heart failure, deep venous thrombosis, myocardial infarction, pneumonia, and pulmonary embolism. Significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS During the perioperative period, rates of major medical complications were 5.9% for pneumonia, 4.1% for deep venous thrombosis, 3.2% for pulmonary embolism, 2.1% for cerebrovascular accident, 1.8% for myocardial infarction, and 1.0% for congestive heart failure. Mortality rates were 0.9% at 6 weeks and 1.8% at 2 years. When comparing the SMD with the MCD, there were no significant differences in the perioperative rates of major medical complications except pneumonia. Furthermore, there were no significant intergroup differences in the mortality rates at 6 weeks or 2 years. The SMD provided greater detail with respect to deformity characteristics and surgical variables than the MCD. CONCLUSIONS The incidence of most major medical complications in the elderly after surgery for ASD was similar between the SMD and the MCD and ranged from 1% for congestive heart failure to 5.9% for pneumonia. These complications data can be valuable for preoperative patient counseling and informed consent.
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    Poor Nutrition Status and Lumbar Spine Fusion Surgery in the Elderly: Readmissions, Complications, and Mortality.
    (Spine, 2017-07) Puvanesarajah, Varun; Jain, Amit; Kebaish, Khaled; Shaffrey, Christopher I; Sciubba, Daniel M; De la Garza-Ramos, Rafael; Khanna, Akhil Jay; Hassanzadeh, Hamid

    Study design

    Retrospective database review.

    Objective

    To quantify the medical and surgical risks associated with elective lumbar spine fusion surgery in patients with poor preoperative nutritional status and to assess how nutritional status alters length of stay and readmission rates.

    Summary of background data

    There has been recent interest in quantifying the increased risk of complications caused by frailty, an important consideration in elderly patients that is directly related to comorbidity burden. Preoperative nutritional status is an important contributor to both sarcopenia and frailty and is poorly studied in the elderly spine surgery population.

    Methods

    The full 100% sample of Medicare data from 2005 to 2012 were utilized to select all patients 65 to 84 years old who underwent elective 1 to 2 level posterior lumbar fusion for degenerative pathology. Patients with diagnoses of poor nutritional status within the 3 months preceding surgery were selected and compared with a control cohort. Outcomes that were assessed included major medical complications, infection, wound dehiscence, and mortality. In addition, readmission rates and length of stay were evaluated.

    Results

    When adjusting for demographics and comorbidities, malnutrition was determined to result in significantly increased odds of both 90-day major medical complications (adjusted odds ratio, OR: 4.24) and 1-year mortality (adjusted OR: 6.16). Multivariate analysis also demonstrated that malnutrition was a significant predictor of increased infection (adjusted OR: 2.27) and wound dehiscence (adjusted OR: 2.52) risk. Length of stay was higher in malnourished patients, though 30-day readmission rates were similar to controls.

    Conclusion

    Malnutrition significantly increases complication and mortality rates, whereas also significantly increasing length of stay. Nutritional supplementation before surgery should be considered to optimize postoperative outcomes in malnourished individuals.

    Level of evidence

    3.