Presenting Author:

Partik Singh, B.A.

Principal Investigator:

Wellington Hsu, M.D.

Department:

Orthopaedic Surgery

Keywords:

ACS-NSQIP, 30-Day Complications, Spinal Fusion, Arthrodesis

Location:

Ryan Family Atrium, Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center

C73 - Clinical

Predicting 30-Day Complications after Spinal Fusion

Background: Accurate risk stratification of patients undergoing spinal fusion is paramount to selecting appropriate candidates for optimal and cost-effective outcomes. previous efforts have aimed to risk stratify patients undergoing procedures within General Surgery. We are assessing the American Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) surgical risk calculator’s ability to predict 30-day complications using 30 patients undergoing primary arthrodesis with the aid of the Northwestern Medicine Enterprise Data Warehouse (NMEDW).​ We are in the process of analyzing concordance between risk calculator estimates of length of hospital stay, 30-day mortality, and other complications with patient outcomes. Methods: Logistical regression models will be fit to estimate odds ratios for each potential complication. Furthermore, Receiver Operator Curves will be fit to each complication, and the area under the curve (c-statistic) will be used as a measure of association between each risk estimate and outcome. Results: Analysis is in progress, but thus far, ACS-NSQIP estimates are trending towards serving as reliable predictors of discharge to Subacute Nursing Facility or Acute Inpatient Rehab in addition to length of hospital stay. This may serve as a useful predictor of the level of disability after spinal fusion with additional implications on the cost of prolonged hospital stay, which may be a future area of investigation.