Surgical therapy for dialysis-related spondyloarthropathy: review of 30 cases

Surgical therapy for dialysis-related spondyloarthropathy was investigated regarding its spinal manifestation. Between August 1985 and May 1998, 31 operations were performed on 16 male and 14 female patients; of these, 17 had cervical and 13 had lumbar spinal disorders. The average patient age was 59 years. The average period of hemodialysis was 14.8 years. Twenty-eight of 30 patients had cystic bone lesions and 24 had carpal tunnel syndrome. Four major postoperative complications occurred: death from paralysis and respiratory distress, severe kyphosis from the collapse of the grafted bone, deep infection from instrumentation, and wire breakage and bone fusion failure. Postoperative results with an average follow-up period of 2.7 years were good in 19 cases (63%), fair in 8 cases (27%), and poor in 3 cases (10%). As yet, surgical intervention for dialysis-related spondyloarthropathy is still regarded as a noncurative treatment; furthermore, the anterior approach to the cervical spine has a high risk for postoperative complications.