Is it safe to perform lumbar spine surgery on patients over eighty five?

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and tolerance of lumbar spine surgery in patients over 85.

Patients over 85 years of age with LSS who underwent decompression surgery with or without fusion between February 2011 and July 2014 were included. Comorbidities, autonomy (Activities of Daily Life and Braden scales), surgical parameters and complications (Clavien-Dindo classification) were collected. A telephone survey was performed to assess survival and patients' satisfaction at last follow-up.

Mean follow-up was 27.4 ± 7.6 months (range, 18-65). Mean age was 87.5 ± 2.7 years (range, 85-97). Mean ADLs and Braden scores were, respectively, 4.3 ± 1.2 and 20.2 ± 1.4. Fifteen patients had associated spondylolisthesis. Nineteen minor complications (grade I and II, 38.7%), five moderate complications (grade III, 10.2%) and six major complications (grade IV and V, 12.2%) occurred. The perioperative mortality rate was 0.02%. At last follow-up, 41 patients were very satisfied (83.7%), five patients were satisfied (10.2%) and three patients were not satisfied (6.1%). Fusion did not affect the incidence of complications (p = 0.3) nor the average number of complications per patient (p = 0.2).

Advanced age should not be a contraindication to lumbar spine surgery provided careful preoperative selection is performed. This study reported a high satisfaction rate and a low mortality rate at the price of a high number of complications, most of which being minor.