Postoperative visual loss following spinal surgery in the prone position may be the most limiting to the quality of a patient's life and the most likely to entail medico-legal consequences for medical and theatre personnel. We analyse the incidence of occular complications after 181 consecutive spinal surgery in the prone position in a typical district general hospital setting in the United Kingdom. No patient undergoing spinal surgery in the prone position lasting over 2 hours developed postoperative transient or permanent visual loss or any other occular complication (incidence 0%). Perioperative preventative measures were found to be sufficient to prevent any form of occular complications. We should inform and reassure patients of the reduced risk of occular complications in spinal surgery when sufficient perioperative precautionary measures are taken.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.