Outcomes Following Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion in Patients With Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome

Abstract

Study Design: Retrospective database analysis. Objectives: To study postoperative complication rates following anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) in patients with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) compared with patients without EDS. Methods: The Mariner database was utilized to identify patients with EDS undergoing one or two level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF). Postoperative short-term outcomes assessed included medical complications, readmissions, and ED-visits within 90 days of surgery. Additionally, surgical complications including wound complications, surgical site infection, one- and two-year anterior revision along with posterior revision, pseudarthrosis, and hardware failure within 2 years were assessed. Multivariate logistic regression was used to adjust for demographic variables, comorbidities and number of levels operated on. Results: The present study identified 533 patients in the EDS group and 2634 patients in the matched control group. EDS patients undergoing ACDF are at an increased risk for 90-day major medical complications (OR 3.31; P