Cost benefits of spinal surgery examined

CHICAGO, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers tracked people's healthcare expenditures and health outcome to determine if the benefits of spinal surgery outweigh the costs.

Dr. Gunnar Andersson of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago said the researchers looked at spinal stenosis that is treated most commonly with laminectomy -- a procedure where orthopedic surgeons remove the portion of the vertebral bone called the lamina and soft tissue to relieve pressure on the nerves in the spine.

The second procedure analyzed was spinal stenosis with slipped vertebrae, which is most commonly treated with spine fusion surgery.

More than 3,900 patients participated in the randomized, controlled trial of surgery versus non-operative treatment. In the study, 320 patients underwent laminectomy and 344 patients had spinal fusion.

Researchers used the Quality Adjusted Life Year scale to measure benefit to patients in comparison to the direct and indirect costs of the surgical procedures over a two-year period after surgery.

The initial two-year analysis, published in the the Annals of Internal Medicine, indicates that decompressive surgery without fusion for spinal stenosis offers good value and that fusion surgery for spondylolithesis -- slipping of vertebrae -- offers less value for its cost than most accepted interventions offers less value for its cost than most accepted interventions.