A decade of experience in over 300 surgically treated spine patients with long-term oral anticoagulation: a...

The aim of this study was to investigate the risks and outcomes of patients with long-term oral anticoagulation (OAC) undergoing spine surgery.

All patients on long-term OAC who underwent spine surgery between 01/2005 and 06/2015 were included. Data were prospectively collected within our in-house Spine Surgery registry and retrospectively supplemented with patient chart and administrative database information. A 1:1 propensity score-matched group of patients without OAC from the same time interval served as control. Primary outcomes were post-operative bleeding, wound complications and thromboembolic events up to 90 days post-surgery. Secondary outcomes included intraoperative blood loss, length of hospital stay, death and 3-month post-operative patient-rated outcomes.

In comparison with the control group, patients with OAC (n = 332) had a 3.4-fold (95%CI 1.3-9.0) higher risk for post-operative bleeding, whereas the risks for wound complications and thromboembolic events were comparable between groups. The higher bleeding risk was driven by a higher rate of extraspinal haematomas (3.3% vs. 0.6%; p = 0.001), while there was no difference in epidural haematomas and haematoma evacuations. Risk factors for adverse events among patients with OAC were mechanical heart valves, posterior neck surgery, blood loss > 1000 mL, age, female sex, BMI > 30 kg/m² and post-operative PTT levels. At 3-month follow-up, most patients reported favourable outcomes with no difference between groups.

Although OAC patients have a higher risk for complications after spine surgery, the risk for major events is low and patients benefit similarly from surgery.