Plastic Surgeon Closure of Index Spinal Cases

PURPOSE The role of the plastic surgeon in wound management following complications from prior spinal surgeries is well established. The present study evaluates wound complications following plastic surgeon closure of the primary spinal surgery in a large patient population. METHODS Spinal surgeries closed by a single plastic surgeon at a large academic hospital were reviewed. Descriptive statistics were applied and outcomes in this sample were compared with previously published outcomes using 2-sample z tests. RESULTS Nine hundred twenty-eight surgeries were reviewed, of which 782 were included. Seven hundred fifteen operations were for degenerative conditions of the spine, 22 for trauma, 30 for neoplasms, and 14 for congenital conditions. Four hundred twenty-one were lumbosacral procedures (53.8%) and 361 (46.2%) cervical. Fourteen patients (1.8%) required readmission with 30 days. This compares favorably to a pooled analysis of 488049 patients, in which the 30-day readmission rate was found to be 5.5% (z=4.5, P