Nationwide survey on complications of spine surgery in Japan

The Japan Spine Research Society carried out a nationwide survey on complications of the spine, enrolling a total of 16157 patients who had undergone spine surgery in 196 institutes in the 1-year period from January to December 2001. Diseases, surgical procedures, and complications were surveyed in detail. Forty-nine percent of patients were aged 60 years or older, which was remarkably increased in comparison with the percentage reported by the 1994 survey (37.3%). The number of cases with degenerative spinal diseases comprised 78.2% of the total number of spine surgery cases. The percentage of patients with stenosis was the greatest (38.5%), reflecting the increase in the elderly population undergoing spine surgery. Spinal instrumentation was used with 5497 patients (34.0%). The frequency of its use was much greater than that reported in 1994 (27.0%). The pedicle screw was the most frequently used instrument (54.6%). The use of spinal instrumentation greatly increased for spinal deformity, trauma, and tumors. Posterior lumbar interbody fusion has been increasingly used in cases of lumbar degenerative disease. Complications of spinal surgery were reported in 1383 patients (8.6%). The incidence of complications associated with instrumentation surgery was 12.1 %, being twice as much as that associated with noninstrumentation surgery (6.8%).