Context In recent decades, the fastest growth in lumbar surgery occurred in older patients with spinal stenosis. Trials indicate that for selected patients, decompressive surgery offers an advantage over non-operative treatment, but surgeons often recommend more invasive fusion procedures. Comorbidity is common in elderly patients, so benefits and risks must be carefully weighed in the choice of surgical procedure. Objective Examine trends in use of different types of stenosis operations and the association of complications and resource use with surgical complexity. Design, Setting, and Patients Retrospective cohort analysis of Medicare claims for 2002–2007, focusing on 2007 to assess complications and resource use in U.S. hospitals. Operations for Medicare recipients undergoing surgery for lumbar stenosis (n=32,152 in the first 11 months of 2007) were grouped into 3 gradations of invasiveness: decompression alone, simple fusion (one or two disc levels, single surgical approach) or complex fusion (more than 2 disc levels or combined anterior and posterior approach). Main Outcome Measures Rates of the 3 types of surgery, major complications, postoperative mortality, and resource use. Results Overall, surgical rates declined slightly from 2002–2007, but the rate of complex fusion procedures increased 15-fold, from 1.3 to 19.9 per 100,000 beneficiaries. Life-threatening complications increased with increasing surgical invasiveness, from 2.3% among patients having decompression alone to 5.6% among those having complex fusions. After adjustment for age, comorbidity, previous spine surgery, and other features, the odds ratio (OR) of life-threatening complications for complex fusion compared to decompression alone was 2.95 (95% CI 2.50–3.49). A similar pattern was observed for rehospitalization within 30 days, which occurred for 7.8% of patients undergoing decompression and 13.0% having a complex fusion (adjusted OR 1.94; 95% CI 1.74–2.17). Adjusted mean hospital charges for complex fusion procedures were $80,888 compared to $23,724 for decompression alone. Conclusions Among Medicare recipients, between 2002 and 2007, the frequency of complex fusion procedures for spinal stenosis increased, while the frequency of decompression surgery and simple fusions decreased. In 2007, compared with decompression, simple fusion and complex fusion were associated with increased risk of major complications, 30-day mortality, and resource use.

Lumbar fusion rates rose even more rapidly in the 90s than in the 80s. The most rapid increases followed the approval of new surgical implants and were much greater than increases in other major orthopedic procedures. The most rapid increases in fusion rates were among adults aged 60 and above. These increases were not associated with reports of clarified indications or improved efficacy, suggesting a need for better data on the efficacy of various fusion techniques for various indications.

Patients should be informed that the likelihood of reoperation following a lumbar spine operation is substantial. For spondylolisthesis, reoperation is less likely following fusion than following decompression alone. For other degenerative spine conditions, the cumulative incidence of reoperation is higher or unimproved after a fusion procedure compared to decompression alone.

BACKGROUND-It is unknown whether survival after in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is improving and which patient and hospital characteristics predict survival.

There are significant differences in outcome associated with age, primary diagnosis, and type of surgical procedure. Administrative databases may underestimate the incidence of complications, but these population-based studies may provide information for comparison with surgical case series and help evaluate rare or severe complications.