PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Anders Joelson
AU  - Freyr Gauti Sigmundsson
TI  - Additional operation rates after surgery for degenerative spine diseases: minimum 10 years follow-up of 4705 patients in the national Swedish spine register
AID  - 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-067571
DP  - 2022 Dec 01
TA  - BMJ Open
PG  - e067571
VI  - 12
IP  - 12
4099  - http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/12/e067571.short
4100  - http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/12/e067571.full
SO  - BMJ Open2022 Dec 01; 12
AB  - Objectives To identify rates of additional operation after the index operation for degenerative lumbar spine diseases.Design Retrospective register study.Setting National outcome data from Swespine, the National Swedish spine register.Participants A total of 4705 patients who underwent one-level surgery for degenerative disk disease (DDD) or lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) with or without degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS) between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2010 were followed from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2020 to record all cases of additional lumbar spine operations.Interventions One-level spinal decompression and/or posterolateral fusion for degenerative spine diseases.Primary outcome measures Number of additional operations.Results Additional operations were more common at adjacent levels for patients with LSS with DS treated with decompression and fusion whereas additional operations were more evenly distributed between the index level and the adjacent levels for DDD treated with fusion and LSS with and without DS treated with decompression only. For patients younger than 60 years, treated with decompression and fusion for LSS with DS, the additional operations were evenly distributed between the index level and the adjacent levels.Conclusions There are different patterns of additional operations following the index procedure after surgery for degenerative spine diseases. Rigidity across previously mobile segments is not the only important factor in the development of adjacent segment disease (ASD) after spinal fusion, also the underlying disease and age may play parts in ASD development. The findings of this study can be used in the shared decision-making process when surgery is a treatment option for patients with degenerative lumbar spine diseases as the first operation may be the start of a series of additional spinal operations for other degenerative spinal conditions, either at the index level or at other spinal levels.