Objectives:
To study the characteristics of patients who underwent surgical treatment of degenerative spinal stenosis in the last 10 years (2000â€"2010) at the Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (USP-HCFMR) and correlate the postoperative complications and preoperative comorbidities found in the study population.
Methods:
Retrospective review of medical records and radiographs of patients with degenerative lumbar stenosis treated surgically. Descriptive analysis of data was done with SAS 9.0.
Results:
92 patients were included, 47 (51.08%) males and 45 (48.91%) females, with ages ranging from 32 to 86 years (mean age of 64.27 years). The most prevalent comorbidities were hypertension (47.82%) and diabetes mellitus (25%). Twenty-three patients (25%) had two or more comorbidities. Postoperative infection was the most common complication found in 12 cases (13%). Patients with only one preoperative comorbidity showed similar complication rates compared to the population without comorbidities. However, patients with two or more comorbid conditions had a higher incidence of postoperative complications (p<0.001).
Conclusions:
Comorbidities negatively influenced the outcome of surgical treatment of degenerative lumbar stenosis with higher rates of postoperative complications.
Spinal stenosis/surgery; Intermittent claudication; Hypertension; Diabetes mellitus