TABLE II.
Operative Treatments, Complications, and Other Events
| Characteristic | Age <80 Yr | Age ≥80 Yr | P Value |
| No. of operatively treated patients* | 742 | 58 | |
| Procedure† | 0.002 | ||
| Decompression only | 341 (47%) | 39 (68%) | |
| Noninstrumented single arthrodesis | 95 (13%) | 8 (14%) | |
| Instrumented single arthrodesis | 292 (40%) | 10 (18%) | |
| Arthrodesis of ≥2 levels | 103 (14%) | 4 (7%) | 0.19 |
| Laminectomy level‡ | |||
| L2-L3 | 162 (22%) | 30 (52%) | <0.001 |
| L3-L4 | 421 (58%) | 50 (86%) | <0.001 |
| L4-L5 | 690 (95%) | 57 (98%) | 0.35 |
| L5-S1 | 241 (33%) | 25 (43%) | 0.16 |
| No. of levels decompressed | <0.001 | ||
| 0 | 12 (2%) | 0 | |
| 1 | 247 (33%) | 5 (9%) | |
| 2 | 248 (33%) | 18 (31%) | |
| ≥3 | 235 (32%) | 35 (60%) | |
| Operative time§ (min) | 167.2 ± 85.9 | 157.5 ± 61.9 | 0.41 |
| Blood loss§ (mL) | 445.7 ± 459.5 | 413.4 ± 430.7 | 0.60 |
| Blood replacement | |||
| Intraop. | 164 (22%) | 7 (12%) | 0.095 |
| Postop. | 93 (13%) | 8 (14%) | 0.97 |
| Length of hospital stay§ (d) | 3.9 ± 2.9 | 4.1 ± 2 | 0.60 |
| Postop. mortality | |||
| Within 6 wk of surgery | 1 (0.1%) | 1 (1.7%) | 0.33 |
| Within 3 mo of surgery | 2 (0.3%) | 1 (1.7%) | 0.52 |
| Intraop. complications# | |||
| Dural tear/spinal fluid leak | 71 (10%) | 8 (14%) | 0.42 |
| Vascular injury | 1 (0%) | 0 | 0.10 |
| Other | 11 (1%) | 1 (2%) | 0.68 |
| None | 659 (89%) | 49 (84%) | 0.40 |
| Postop. complications and other events** | |||
| Nerve root injury | 1 (0%) | 0 | 0.10 |
| Wound dehiscence | 1 (0%) | 0 | 0.10 |
| Wound hematoma | 5 (1%) | 0 | 0.82 |
| Wound infection | 18 (2%) | 2 (3%) | 0.98 |
| Other | 59 (8%) | 2 (3%) | 0.31 |
| None | 574 (78%) | 47 (81%) | 0.76 |
| Additional surgical procedures†† | |||
| Within 1 yr | 44 (6%) | 3 (5%) | 0.85 |
| Within 2 yr | 77 (10%) | 3 (5%) | 0.23 |
| Within 3 yr | 97 (13%) | 3 (5%) | 0.10 |
| Within 4 yr | 109 (14%) | 4 (7%) | 0.12 |
| Recurrent stenosis or progressive spondylolisthesis | 44 (6%) | 0 | |
| Pseudarthrosis or fusion exploration | 4 (0.5%) | 0 | |
| Complication or other event | 41 (5.6%) | 2 (3.6%) | |
| New condition | 17 (2.3%) | 0 |
SPORT patients in the randomized and observational cohorts with spinal stenosis (alone or with degenerative spondylolisthesis). Surgical information was available for 742 patients younger than 80 yr and fifty-eight at least 80 yr of age.
Specific procedure data were available for 728 patients younger than 80 yr and fifty-seven at least 80 yr of age.
L4-L5 and L5-S1 data were available for 730 and 727 patients younger than 80 yr, respectively.
The values are given as the mean and the standard deviation.
No cases were reported of aspiration into the respiratory tract, nerve-root injury, or operation at the wrong level.
Any reported complications up to 8 wk after surgery. None of the following were reported: bone graft complication, cerebrospinal fluid leak, paralysis, cauda equina injury, and pseudarthrosis.
1, 2, 3, and 4-yr post-surgery reoperation rates are Kaplan-Meier estimates, and p values are based on the log-rank test. Numbers and percentages are based on the first additional surgery if a patient had more than one additional surgery.