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Background: There is a concern for higher rates of wound complications and a potentially increased periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) risk after total hip arthroplasty (THA) with the direct anterior approach (DAA) compared to the posterolateral approach (PLA). Our purpose was to compare PJI risk after THA with the DAA or the PLA and to identify risk factors for PJI after primary THA. Methods: Clinical characteristics of patients treated in our institution with primary DAA or PLA THA between 1/2010 and 12/2015 were retrospectively reviewed. The respective deep PJI rates were calculated. A logistic regression model was constructed to determine a potential difference in the PJI risk between the 2 groups, and risk factors for hip PJI in all patients. Results: During the period studied, there were 1,182 DAA THAs and 18,853 PLA THAs. The PJI rate was 0.25% for the DAA group and 0.31% for the PLA group (p = 1.0). The DAA was not associated with a significantly increased risk for PJI compared to the PLA. Compared to younger patients, older patients had lower PJI risk; patient discharge to home was also associated with lower PJI risk compared to other discharge disposition; longer length of stay was associated with higher PJI risk compared to shorter length of stay. Conclusion: The DAA is equally safe compared the PLA with respect to PJI risk. Younger age, discharge to facilities other than home and increased length of stay increase the risk for deep PJI after primary THA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While increased surgical-provider volume has been associated with improved outcomes, research regarding volume-outcome relationships within high-volume institutions and the role of anaesthesiologists is limited. Further, the effect of anaesthesia-care-team composition remains understudied. This analysis aimed to identify the impact of anaesthesiologist and surgeon volume on adverse events after total joint arthroplasties.Methods: We retrospectively identified 40 437 patients who underwent total joint arthroplasties at a high-volume institution from 2005 to 2014. The main effects of interest were anaesthesiologist and surgeon volume and experience along with anaesthesia-care-team composition. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to evaluate three outcomes: any complication, cardiopulmonary complication, and length of stay (>5 days). Odds ratios (ORs) and 99.75% confidence intervals (CIs) were reported.Results: Across all three models, anaesthesiologist volume and experience, and anaesthesia-care-team composition were not significant predictors. Surgeon annual case volume >50 was associated with significantly reduced odds of any complication (annual case volume: 50-149; OR: 0.80; CI: 0.66-0.98) and prolonged length of stay (OR: 0.69; CI: 0.60-0.80). Surgeon experience >20 yr was associated with significantly reduced odds of prolonged length of stay (OR: 0.85; CI: 0.75-0.95).Conclusions: Anaesthesiologist volume and experience, and anaesthesia-care-team composition did not impact the odds of an adverse outcome, although a higher surgeon volume was associated with decreased odds of complications and prolonged length of stay. Further study is necessary to determine if these findings can be extrapolated to less specialised, lower volume surgical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Neuraxial anesthesia is increasingly recommended for hip/knee replacements as some studies show improved outcomes on the individual level. With hospital-level studies lacking, we assessed the relationship between hospital-level neuraxial anesthesia utilization and outcomes.Methods: National data on 808,237 total knee and 371,607 hip replacements were included (Premier Healthcare 2006 to 2014; 550 hospitals). Multivariable associations were measured between hospital-level neuraxial anesthesia volume (subgrouped into quartiles) and outcomes (respiratory/cardiac complications, blood transfusion/intensive care unit need, opioid utilization, and length/cost of hospitalization). Odds ratios (or percent change) and 95% CI are reported. Volume-outcome relationships were additionally assessed by plotting hospital-level neuraxial anesthesia volume against predicted hospital-specific outcomes; trend tests were applied with trendlines' R statistics reported.Results: Annual hospital-specific neuraxial anesthesia volume varied greatly: interquartile range, 3 to 78 for hips and 6 to 163 for knees. Increasing frequency of neuraxial anesthesia was not associated with reliable improvements in any of the study's clinical outcomes. However, significant reductions of up to -14.1% (95% CI, -20.9% to -6.6%) and -15.6% (95% CI, -22.8% to -7.7%) were seen for hospitalization cost in knee and hip replacements, respectively, both in the third quartile of neuraxial volume. This coincided with significant volume effects for hospitalization cost; test for trend P < 0.001 for both procedures, R 0.13 and 0.41 for hip and knee replacements, respectively.Conclusions: Increased hospital-level use of neuraxial anesthesia is associated with lower hospitalization cost for lower joint replacements. However, additional studies are needed to elucidate all drivers of differences found before considering hospital-level neuraxial anesthesia use as a potential marker of quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of anesthesia techniques on perioperative outcomes on a population level has recently gained widespread interest. Although mainly neuraxial vs general anesthesia has been addressed, population-level data on the impact of peripheral nerve blocks (PNBs) are still lacking. Therefore, we investigated the association between PNB use and outcomes using retrospective data on 1,062,152 recipients of hip and knee arthroplasties (total hip arthroplasty [THA]/total knee arthroplasty [TKA]) from the national Premier Perspective database (2006-2013). Multilevel multivariable logistic regression models measured associations between PNB use and outcomes. Complications included cardiac, pulmonary, gastrointestinal and renal complications, cerebrovascular events, infections, wound complications, thromboembolic complications, inpatient falls, and mortality. Resource utilization variables included blood transfusions, intensive care unit admissions, opioid consumption, cost, and length of stay. Overall, 12.5% of patients received a PNB, with an increase over time particularly among TKAs. Peripheral nerve block use was associated with lower odds for most adverse outcomes mainly among patients with THA. Notable beneficial effects were seen for wound complications (odds ratio 0.60 [95% confidence interval, 0.49-0.74]) among THA recipients and pulmonary complications (odds ratio 0.83 [95% confidence interval, 0.72-0.94]) in patients with TKA. Peripheral nerve block use was significantly (P < 0.0001) associated with a -16.2% and -12.7% reduction in opioid consumption for patients with THA and TKA, respectively. In conclusion, our results indicate that PNBs might be associated with superior perioperative population-level outcomes. In light of the inability to establish a causal relationship and the presence of residual confounding, we strongly advocate for further prospective investigation, ideally in multicenter, randomized trials, to establish the potential impact of PNBs on outcomes on a population level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Study Objective: To analyze whether patient characteristics, ambulatory facility type, anesthesia provider and technique, procedure type, and temporal factors impact the outcome of unexpected disposition after ambulatory knee and shoulder surgery. Design: Retrospective analysis of a national database. Setting: Freestanding and hospital-based ambulatory surgery facilities. Measurements: Ambulatory knee and shoulder surgery cases from 1996 and 2006 were identified through the National Survey of Ambulatory Surgery. The incidence of unexpected disposition status was determined and risk factors for such outcome were analyzed. Main Results: Factors independently increasing the risk for unexpected disposition included procedures performed in hospital-based versus freestanding facilities [odds ratio (OR) 6.83 (95% confidence interval [CI] 4.34; 10.75)], shoulder versus knee procedures [OR 3.84 (CI 2.55; 5.77)], anesthesia provided by nonanesthesiology professionals and certified registered nurse-anesthetists versus anesthesiologists [OR 7.33 (CI 4.18; 12.84) and OR 1.80 (CI 1.09; 2.99), respectively]. Decreased risk for unexpected disposition was for procedures performed in 2006 versus 1996 [OR 0.15 (CI 0.10; 0.24)] and the use of anesthesia other than regional or general [OR 0.34 (CI 0.18; 0.68)]. Conclusions: The decreased risk for unexpected disposition associated with more recent data and with freestanding versus hospital-based facilities may represent improvements in efficiency, while the decreased odds for such disposition status associated with the use of other than general or regional anesthesia may be related to a lower invasiveness of cases. We found an increased risk of adverse disposition in cases where the anesthesia provider was a nonanesthesiology professional. No difference in this outcome was noted when an anesthesia care team provided care. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: The coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic highlighted the unfortunate reality that many hospitals have insufficient intensive care unit (ICU) capacity to meet massive, unanticipated increases in demand. To drastically increase ICU capacity, NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center modified its existing operating rooms and post-anaesthesia care units during the initial expansion phase to accommodate the surge of critically ill patients. Methods: This retrospective chart review examined patient care in non-standard Expansion ICUs as compared to standard ICUs. We compared clinical data between the two settings to determine whether the expeditious development and deployment of critical care resources during an evolving medical crisis could provide appropriate care. Results: Sixty-six patients were admitted to Expansion ICUs from March 1st to April 30th, 2020 and 343 were admitted to standard ICUs. Most patients were male (70%), White (30%), 45–64 years old (35%), non-smokers (73%), had hypertension (58%), and were hospitalized for a median of 40 days. For patients that died, there was no difference in treatment management, but the Expansion cohort had a higher median ICU length of stay (q = 0.037) and ventilatory length (q = 0.015). The cohorts had similar rates of discharge to home, but the Expansion ICU cohort had higher rates of discharge to a rehabilitation facility and overall lower mortality. Conclusions: We found no significantly worse outcomes for the Expansion ICU cohort compared to the standard ICU cohort at our institution during the COVID-19 pandemic, which demonstrates the feasibility of providing safe and effective care for patients in an Expansion ICU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The development of hyponatremia after total joint arthroplasty (TJA) may lead to several adverse events and is associated with prolonged inpatient length of stay as well as increased hospital costs. The purpose of this study was to develop and internally validate machine learning algorithms for predicting hyponatremia after TJA.Methods: A consecutive cohort of 30,703 TJA patients from an institutional registry at a large, tertiary academic hospital were included. A total of 19 potential predictor variables were collected. Hyponatremia was defined as a serum sodium concentration of <135 mEq/L. Five machine learning algorithms were developed using a training set and internally validated using an independent testing set. Algorithm performance was evaluated through discrimination, calibration, decision-curve analysis, and Brier score.Results: The charts of 30,703 patients undergoing TJA were reviewed. Of those patients, 5,480 (17.8%) developed hyponatremia postoperatively. A combination of 6 variables were demonstrated to optimize algorithm prediction: preoperative serum sodium concentration, age, intraoperative blood loss, procedure time, body mass index (BMI), and American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score. Threshold values that were associated with greater hyponatremia risk were a preoperative serum sodium concentration of ≤138 mEq/L, an age of ≥73 years, an ASA score of >2, intraoperative blood loss of >407 mL, a BMI of ≤26 kg/m2, and a procedure time of >111 minutes. The stochastic gradient boosting (SGB) algorithm demonstrated the best performance (c-statistic: 0.75, calibration intercept: -0.02, calibration slope: 1.02, and Brier score: 0.12). This algorithm was turned into a tool that can provide real-time predictions (https://orthoapps.shinyapps.io/Hyponatremia_TJA/).Conclusions: The SGB algorithm demonstrated the best performance for predicting hyponatremia after TJA. The most important factors for predicting hyponatremia were preoperative serum sodium concentration, age, intraoperative blood loss, procedure time, BMI, and ASA score. A real-time hyponatremia risk calculator was developed, but it is imperative to perform external validation of this model prior to using this calculator in clinical practice.Level Of Evidence: Prognostic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses research which investigated trends in the use of epidural steroid injections to treat back pain before spine surgery. The study assessed the association of preoperative epidural steroid injections with postoperative chronic opioid in patients who underwent anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) compared to those who underwent microdiscectomy. Mechanisms behind the association of epidural steroid injections with chronic postoperative opioid use are proposed.

Background: The opioid epidemic is one of the most pressing public health crises in the USA. With fractures being amongst the most common reasons for a child to require surgical intervention and receive post-surgical pain management, characterisation of opioid prescription patterns and risk factors is critical. We hypothesised that the numbers of paediatric patients receiving opioids, or who developed persistent opioid use, are significant, and a number of risk factors for persistent opioid use could be identified.Methods: We conducted a retrospective population-based cohort study. National claims data from the Truven Health Analytics® MarketScan database were used to (i) characterise opioid prescription patterns and (ii) describe the epidemiology and risk factors for single use and persistent use of opioids amongst paediatric patients who underwent surgical intervention for fracture treatment.Results: Amongst 303 335 patients, 21.5% received at least one opioid prescription within 6 months after surgery, and 1671 (0.6%) developed persistent opioid use. Risk factors for persistent opioid use include older age; female sex; lower extremity trauma; surgeries involving the spine, rib cage, or head; closed fracture treatment; earlier surgery years; previous use of opioid; and higher comorbidity burden.Conclusions: Amongst a cohort of paediatric patients who underwent surgical fracture treatment, 21.5% filled at least one opioid prescription, and 0.6% (N=1671) filled at least one more opioid prescription between 3 and 6 months after surgery. Understanding risk factors related to persistent opioid use can help clinicians devise strategies to counter the development of persistent opioid use for paediatric patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Design: Retrospective database study.Objective: We sought to identify trends in demographics, comorbidities, and postoperative complications among patients undergoing ACDF and PLF.Summary Of Background Data: As demand for anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) and posterior lumbar fusion (PLF) surgery continues to increase, it is important to understand changes in the healthcare system and patient populations undergoing these procedures.Methods: We identified 220,520 ACDF and 151,547 PLF surgeries (2006-2016; Premier Healthcare database). Annual proportions or medians were calculated for patient and hospital characteristics, and (Elixhauser) comorbidities. Postoperative complications, including blood transfusions, cardiovascular, pulmonary, renal, or wound complications, hemorrhage, stroke, sepsis, thromboembolism, delirium, inpatient falls, and mortality, were reported per 1000 inpatient days. Trends were assessed by Cochran-Armitage tests and linear regression for binary and continuous variables, respectively.Results: The median age of patients undergoing ACDF and PLF increased significantly from 2006 to 2016 (50 to 57 yr and 58 to 61 yr, respectively; P < 0.001) coinciding with an increasing comorbidity burden (30.2% to 47.9% and 44.9% to 55.7%, respectively representing the share of patients with ≥2 Elixhauser comorbidities; P < 0.001). Overall rate of any complication experienced a significant decline after both ACDF (24.5 to 20.8 per 1000 inpatient days; P = 0.002) and PLF (30.5 to 23.1 per 1000 inpatient days; P < 0.001).Conclusions: The comorbidity burden of patients undergoing ACDF and PLF increased substantially from 2006 to 2016, however without a corresponding increase in overall complication rate. Understanding these changes can help guide future practice, advise in the allocation of resources, and inform future areas of research.Level Of Evidence: 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Design: Retrospective database study.Objective: We sought to investigate trends and risk factors for new-onset anxiety and/or depression within 6 months after elective spine surgery.Summary Of Background Data: Surgery represents a stressful experience associated with a number of physiological and psychological consequences. A subset of patients develop clinically significant symptoms of new-onset anxiety or depression. However, the incidence of and risk factors for these adverse outcomes after spine surgery remain ill-defined.Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis including anterior cervical discectomy and fusion and posterior lumbar fusion cases from 2012 to 2015, utilizing the Truven MarketScan database. Primary outcomes were new-onset depression, new-onset anxiety, and new-onset depression and/or anxiety after surgery. Potential risk factors included patient demographics, comorbidities, hospital and procedural characteristics as well as perioperative opioid regimens. Multivariable logistic regression models measured associations between risk factors and outcomes. Odds ratios (OR) were reported and results with P < 0.0167 were considered statistically significant.Results: Among 39,495 unique patients, overall incidence of new-onset depression and anxiety was 6% and 11.2%, respectively. In adjusted analyses, significant risk factors across all three outcomes included chronic opioid use (ORs ranging from 1.31 to 2.93; P < 0.01), female sex (ORs ranging from 1.25 to 1.67; P < 0.01), longer length of stay (ORs ranging from 1.05 to 1.08; P < 0.01), and readmission within 6 months of surgery (OR ranging from 1.31 to 1.68; P < 0.01).Conclusion: We identified several risk factors contributing to increased odds of new-onset depression and/or anxiety after spine fusion surgery. These data may aid the implementation of preventative measures among identified high-risk patients.Level Of Evidence: 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.Objective: We sought to determine if there was an association between enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) implementation level and complication risk, length of stay, and cost of hospitalization.Summary Of Background Data: ERAS protocols aim to minimize the stress response of surgery by promoting early mobilization, oral intake, as well as improvement of analgesia. Implementation of ERAS protocols in spine surgeries has been limited to mostly single-institution studies, and no population-based data exist on the impact of the level of implementation of various ERAS components on outcomes.Methods: In this study we identified 265,576 posterior lumbar fusion surgeries from 2006 to 2016. The main effect was the application of eight ERAS-related practices: (1) multimodal analgesia, (2) tranexamic acid, (3) antiemetics, (4) steroids, (5) early physical therapy, (6) avoidance of urinary catheters, (7) avoidance of patient-controlled analgesia, (8) avoidance of wound drains. Patients were classified by levels of ERAS implementation: "High," "Medium," and "Low" ERAS implementation if they received more than five, three to five, or less than three ERAS components, respectively. Mixed-effects models measured associations between ERAS implementation categories and complications, length and cost of hospitalization; odds ratios (OR, or average ratios for continuous outcomes), and 99.4% confidence intervals (CI) were reported.Results: Overall, 13.3%, 62.8%, and 24.4% of cases were categorized as "High," "Medium," and "Low" ERAS implementation, respectively. After adjusting for study variables, "Medium" and "High" (compared with "Low") ERAS implementation levels were significantly associated with incrementally improved outcomes regarding "any complication" (OR 0.84 CI 0.80-0.88 and OR 0.77 CI 0.71-0.84), cardiopulmonary complications (OR 0.75 CI 0.68-0.73 and OR 0.69 CI 0.59-0.80), length of stay (average ratio 0. 94 CI 0.93-0.94 and average ratio 0.91 CI 0.90-0.91), and hospitalization cost (average ratio 0.99 CI 0.98-0.99 and average ratio OR 0.95 0.95-0.96).Conclusion: In a cohort undergoing posterior lumbar spine fusion the level of utilization of ERAS protocol components was independently associated with incrementally improved complication odds as well as reduced length of stay and a small decrease in overall hospitalization cost.Level Of Evidence: 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hospital-related factors associated with mortality and morbidity after hip fracture surgery are not completely understood. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest single-payer, networked healthcare system in the country serving a relatively homogenous patient population with facilities that vary in size and resource availability. These characteristics provide some degree of financial and patient-level controls to explore the association, if any, between surgical volume and facility resource availability and hospital performance regarding postoperative complications after hip fracture surgery.Questions/purposes: (1) Do VHA facilities with the highest complexity level designation (Level 1a) have a disproportionate number of better-than-expected performance outliers for major postoperative complications compared with lower-complexity level facilities? (2) Do VHA facilities with higher hip fracture surgical volume have a disproportionate number of better-than-expected performance outliers for major postoperative complications compared with lower-volume facilities?Methods: We explored the Veterans Affairs Surgical Quality Improvement Project (VASQIP) database from October 2001 to September 2012 for records of hip fracture surgery performed. Data reliability of the VASQIP database has been previously validated. We excluded nine of the 98 VHA facilities for contributing fewer than 30 records. The remaining 89 VHA facilities provided 23,029 records. The VHA designates a complexity level to each facility based on multiple criteria. We labeled facilities with a complexity Level 1a (38 facilities)-the highest achievable VHA designated complexity level-as high complexity; we labeled all other complexity level designations as low complexity (51 facilities). Facility volume was divided into tertiles: high (> 277 hip fracture procedures during the sampling frame), medium (204 to 277 procedures), and low (< 204 procedures). The patient population treated by low-complexity facilities was older, had a higher prevalence of severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (26% versus 22%, p < 0.001), and had a higher percentage of patients having surgery within 2 days of hospital admission (83% versus 76%, p < 0.001). High-complexity facilities treated more patients with recent congestive heart failure exacerbation (4% versus 3%, p < 0.001). We defined major postoperative complications as having at least one of the following: death within 30 days of surgery, cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation, new q-wave myocardial infarction, deep vein thrombosis and/or pulmonary embolism, ventilator dependence for at least 48 hours after surgery, reintubation for respiratory or cardiac failure, acute renal failure requiring renal replacement therapy, progressive renal insufficiency with a rise in serum creatinine of at least 2 mg/dL from preoperative value, pneumonia, or surgical site infection. We used the observed-to-expected ratio (O/E ratio)-a risk-adjusted metric to classify facility performance-for major postoperative complications to assess the performance of VHA facilities. Outlier facilities with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for O/E ratio completely less than 1.0 were labeled "exceed expectation;" those that were completely greater than 1.0 were labeled "below expectation." We compared differences in the distribution of outlier facilities between high and low-complexity facilities, and between high-, medium-, and low-volume facilities using Fisher's exact test.Results: We observed no association between facility complexity level and the distribution of outlier facilities (high-complexity: 5% exceeded expectation, 5% below expectation; low-complexity: 8% exceeded expectation, 2% below expectation; p = 0.742). Compared with high-complexity facilities, the adjusted odds ratio for major postoperative complications for low-complexity facilities was 0.85 (95% CI, 0.67-1.09; p = 0.108).We observed no association between facility volume and the distribution of outlier facilities: 3% exceeded expectation and 3% below expectation for high-volume; 10% exceeded expectation and 3% below expectation for medium-volume; and 7% exceeded expectation and 3% below expectation for low-volume; p = 0.890). The adjusted odds ratios for major postoperative complications were 0.87 (95% CI, 0.73-1.05) for low- versus high-volume facilities and 0.89 (95% CI, 0.79-1.02] for medium- versus high-volume facilities (p = 0.155).Conclusions: These results do not support restricting facilities from treating hip fracture patients based on historical surgical volume or facility resource availability. Identification of consistent performance outliers may help health care organizations with multiple facilities determine allocation of services and identify characteristics and processes that determine outlier status in the interest of continued quality improvement.Level Of Evidence: Level III, therapeutic study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Difficult airway management and obstructive sleep apnea may contribute to increased risk of perioperative morbidity and mortality. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis (SRMA) is to evaluate the evidence of a difficult airway being associated with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients undergoing surgery. Methods: The standard databases were searched from 1946 to April 2017 to identify the eligible articles. The studies which included adult surgical patients with either suspected or diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea must report at least one difficult airway event [either difficult intubation (DI), difficult mask ventilation (DMV), failed supraglottic airway insertion or difficult surgical airway] in sleep apnea and non-sleep apnea patients were included. Results: Overall, DI was 3.46-fold higher in the sleep apnea vs non-sleep apnea patients (OSA vs. non-OSA: 13.5% vs 2.5%; OR 3.46; 95% CI: 2.32–5.16, p <0.00001). DMV was 3.39-fold higher in the sleep apnea vs non-sleep apnea patients (OSA vs. non-OSA: 4.4% vs 1.1%; OR 3.39; 95% CI: 2.74–4.18, p <0.00001). Combined DI and DMV was 4.12-fold higher in the OSA vs. non-OSA patients (OSA vs. non-OSA: 1.1% vs 0.3%; OR 4.12; 95% CI: 2.93–5.79, p <0.00001). There was no significant difference in the supraglottic airway failure rates in the sleep apnea vs non-sleep apnea patients (OR: 1.34; 95% CI: 0.70–2.59; p = 0.38). Meta-regression to adjust for various subgroups and baseline confounding factors did not impact the final inference of our results. Conclusion: This SRMA found that patients with obstructive sleep apnea had a three to four-fold higher risk of difficult intubation or mask ventilation or both, when compared to non-sleep apnea patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The value of intravenous acetaminophen in postoperative pain management remains debated. The authors tested the hypothesis that intravenous acetaminophen use, in isolation and in comparison to oral, would be associated with decreased opioid utilization (clinically significant reduction defined as 25%) and opioid-related adverse effects in open colectomy patients.Methods: Using national claims data from open colectomy patients (Premier Healthcare Database, Premier Healthcare Solutions, Inc., USA; 2011 to 2016; n = 181,640; 602 hospitals), we separately categorized oral and intravenous acetaminophen use: 1 (1,000 mg) or more than 1 dose on the day of surgery, postoperative day 1, or later. Multilevel models measured associations between intravenous or oral acetaminophen and (1) opioid utilization and (2) opioid-related adverse effects. Percent change and multiplicity-adjusted 99.5% CI are reported.Results: Overall, 25.1% of patients received intravenous acetaminophen, of whom 48.0% (n = 21,878) received 1 dose on the day of surgery. In adjusted analyses, particularly more than 1 dose of intravenous acetaminophen (versus nonuse) on postoperative day 1 was associated with a -12.4% (99.5% CI, -15.2 to -9.4%) change in opioid utilization. In comparison, a stronger reduction was seen in those receiving more than 1 oral acetaminophen dose: -22.6% (99.5% CI, -26.2 to -18.9%). Unadjusted group medians were 550 and 490 oral morphine equivalents, respectively. Intravenous versus oral differences were less pronounced among those receiving more than 1 acetaminophen dose on the day of surgery: -8.0% (99.5% CI, -11.0 to -4.9%) median 499 oral morphine equivalents versus -8.7% (99.5% CI, -14.4 to -2.7%) median 445 oral morphine equivalents, respectively; all statistically significant, but none clinically significant. Comparable outcome patterns existed for opioid-related adverse effects.Conclusions: The demonstrated marginal effects do not support routine use of intravenous acetaminophen given alternative nonopioid analgesic options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Objective: The objective was to analyze the impact of a peripheral nerve block in addition to general anesthesia on hospital admission after surgical rotator cuff repair.Design: This was a population-based outcome study. The cost effectiveness of ambulatory rotator cuff repair relies on the discharge of patients on the day of surgery. As the impact of a peripheral nerve block in addition to general anesthesia on this outcome is unknown, we sought to elucidate this subject using population-based data.Patients and Methods: Information on patients undergoing rotator cuff surgery under general anesthesia with or without the addition of a peripheral nerve block (GN vs G) from a retrospective database provided by Premier Perspective, Inc, Charlotte, NC (http://www.premierinc.com), was analyzed. Using multilevel multivariable regressions, we evaluated the independent impact of the type of anesthesia on the outcomes hospital admission, combined major complications, and increased hospital costs.Results: We identified 27,201 patients who underwent surgical rotator cuff repair. Approximately 89% (24,240) of patients were discharged on the day of surgery, whereas 11% (2961) were admitted to the hospital. The admission rates for the GN group were 9.1% and 11.2% for the G group (P=.0001). The multivariable regression models showed that patients with the addition of a peripheral nerve block had 18% less risk of being admitted to the hospital (relative risk [RR]=0.82; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.74-0.91; P=.0003) compared with those without this intervention. Differences in risk for combined major complications (RR=1.00; 95% CI, 0.83-1.20; P=.9751) or increased hospital costs (RR=0.97; 95% CI, 0.93-1.02; P=.2538) were nonsignificant.Discussion: For patients undergoing surgical rotator cuff repair under general anesthesia, the addition of a peripheral nerve block may be associated with a reduction in the need for postoperative hospital admission after ambulatory surgery. Although the reason for this finding has to remain speculative, better pain control may play a role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Adding neuraxial to general anesthesia (GA) has been associated with improved perioperative outcome after orthopedic surgery. Presuming a similar effect in major abdominal surgery we studied its effect on perioperative outcome in open colectomy patients. Materials and methods Retrospective study using the Premier Perspective database (n = 98,290 elective open colectomies, 2006-2012). Multilevel multivariable logistic regression models measured the association between anesthesia type (GA or general and neuraxial anesthesia combined [GNA]) and perioperative outcome with odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Outcomes were thromboembolism, acute myocardial infarction, postoperative infection, postoperative ileus, cerebrovascular events, blood transfusion, admission to an intensive care unit, and mechanical ventilation. Results GA was used in 93.9%, GNA in 6.1%, with a similar Charlson comorbidity index between the groups (2.66 versus 2.72, respectively; P = 0.121). The multivariable analyses showed GNA (versus GA) to be associated with a significantly decreased risk for thromboembolism (OR 0.74; CI 0.58-0.93) and cerebrovascular events (OR 0.67; CI 0.51-0.88), whereas the association was nonsignificant for wound infections, pneumonia, and mechanical ventilation. However, GNA use was significantly associated with increased risk for acute myocardial infarction (OR 2.74; CI 2.19-3.43), urinary tract infection (OR 1.35; CI 1.21-1.50), postoperative ileus (OR 1.17; CI 1.09-1.26), blood transfusion (OR 1.12; CI 1.01-1.24), and admission to intensive care unit (OR 1.32; CI 1.22-1.43). Conclusions We found no clear pattern of consistent favorable results for patients undergoing their open colectomy under GNA. Further prospective research is needed to help identify those who are more likely to benefit from GNA use and its mechanism of actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Design: Analysis of population-based national hospital discharge data collected for the National Inpatient Sample.Objective: To examine demographics of patients undergoing primary anterior spine fusion (ASF), posterior spine fusion (PSF), and anterior/posterior spine fusion (APSF) of the noncervical spine, assess the incidence of perioperative morbidity and mortality, and determine independent risk factors for in-hospital death.Summary Of Background Data: The utilization of surgical fusion has been increasing dramatically. Despite this trend, a paucity of literature addressing perioperative outcomes exists.Methods: Data collected for each year between 1998 and 2006 for the National Inpatient Sample were analyzed. Discharges with a procedure code for primary noncervical spine fusion were included in the sample. The prevalence of patient as well as health care system-related demographics were evaluated by procedure type (ASF, PSF, and APSF). Frequencies of procedure-related complications and in-hospital mortality were analyzed. Independent predictors for in-hospital mortality were determined.Results: We identified 261,256 entries representing an estimated 1,273,228 hospitalizations for primary spine fusion. Patients undergoing ASF and APSF were significantly younger (44.8 ± 0.08 and 44.22 ± 0.11 years) and had lower average comorbidity indeces (0.30 ± 0.002 and 0.31 ± 0.004) than those undergoing PSF (52.12 ± 0.04 years and 0.41 ± 0.002) (P < 0.0001). The incidence of procedure-related complications was 18.68% among ASF, 15.72% in PSF, and 23.81% in APSF patients (P < 0.0001). In-hospital mortality rates after APSF were approximately twice those of PSF (0.51 ± 0.038 vs. 0.26 ± 0.012) (P < 0.0001). Adjusted risk factors for in-hospital mortality included the following: APSF and ASF compared to PSF, male gender, increasing age, and increasing comorbidity burden. Several comorbidities and complications independently increased the risk for perioperative death, as did underlying spinal pathology.Conclusion: Despite being performed in generally younger and healthier patients, APSF and ASF are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Our findings can be used for the purposes of risk stratification, accurate patient consultation, and hypothesis formation for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study conducted by Jashvant Poeran and colleagues which aims to assess the perioperative use of the medication tranexamic acid in total hip and total knee arthroplasties without the need for blood transfusions and risks for thromboembolic and renal problems. Topics discussed include the summary answer and the main result of the study, what the research adds on previous studies on tranexamic acid use, and the methodology of the study.