Risk Factors for Cerebrospinal Fluid Leakage After Extradural Spine Surgery: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage is 1 of the common complications of spine surgery and is largely caused by intraoperative or postoperative dural tears. Associations of different factors with postoperative CSF leakage have not been consistent. In this study we aimed to identify demographic, disease-related, and surgical risk factors for CSF leakage after extradural spine surgery in a systematic review and meta-anlysis.

The PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Wanfang data, Chinese Weipu Database, and SinoMed databases were searched from inception until October 24, 2022. Fixed-effects or random-effects models were used to calculate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. The quality of observational studies was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale instrument.

A total of 15 observational studies with 1,719,923 participants were included in this systematic review. All studies had a Newcastle-Ottawa scale score greater than or equal to 6. Age older than 70 years, smoking, ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament, adhesion of spinal dura, spinal canal stenosis, cervical fracture, spondylolisthesis, revision surgery, and multiple surgical segments were all related to CSF leakage in the pooled analysis. Obesity and disease duration>1 year were not associated with the leakage of CSF.

This study will provide a reference for the identification of patients at high risk of developing CSF leakage, which suggests clinicians to strengthen the observation of drainage fluid in high-risk groups.