Percutaneous discoplasty can result as an alternative minimal invasive strategy for the treatment of advanced degenerative disk disease.

Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak in spine surgeons in Latin America. Methods: A questionnaire was sent to Latin American spine surgeons from April 4 to 6, 2020. Surgeon characteristics were recorded. The impact of COVID-19 on economic well-being, work, and mental health were also determined. All variables were compared and analyzed. Results: Two hundred four surgeons answered the complete survey; most of them were male (96.6%), the average age was 47.7 years; 58.8% (n = 120) were orthopedic surgeons and 41.2% (n = 84) were neurosurgeons. The majority of the respondents were from Argentina (59.8%, n = 122), followed by Brazil (17.2%, n = 35), Chile (6.4%, n = 13), and Mexico (5.9%, n = 12). Most of the surgeons reported performing emergency procedures only during the pandemic (76.5%, n = 156). Half used telemedicine or online consultation modalities (54.4%, n = 111). The average concern about the financial situation due to the pandemic was 7.53 in a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the worst scenario). Twenty-two percent (n = 45) of the surgeons had a score over 10 in the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9; scores higher than 10 needs referral to confirm depression diagnosis). Young age and neurosurgery as a specialty were associated with higher PHQ-9 scores. Conclusions: COVID-19 has an impact in the daily working practice and financial situation of spine surgeons in Latin America. The long-term psychological impact should be taken into consideration to avoid a heavier burden for health care providers.

Study Design: Retrospective study. Level of evidence III. Objective: Postoperative complications in spine surgery are associated with increased morbidity, hospital length of stay, and health care costs. Registry of complications in orthopedics and the spine surgery is heterogeneous.Methods: Between July 2016 and June 2017, 274 spinal surgeries were performed, the presence of postoperative complications was analyzed at 90 days (according to the classification of Dindo-Clavien, grades I-V), hospital length of stay, surgical complexity (low, medium, and high), unplanned readmission, and risk factors were evaluated.Results: A total of 79 patients suffered a complication (28.8%), of them 21 (26.7%) were grade I, 24 (30.3%) were grade II, 4 (5.7%) were grade IIIA, and 29 (37.3%) were grade IIIB. There were no IV and V grade cases. The most frequent complication was excessive pain followed by deep wound infection and anemia. Surgical complexity and surgical time were significantly associated with the risk of developing a complication. The average number of hospital length of stay in patients without and with complications were 2.7 and 10.6, respectively, and the unplanned readmission rate was 11%.Conclusions: Registry of postoperative complications allows the correct standardization and risk factors required to establish measures to decrease them, the application of Dindo-Clavien classification was useful for the purpose of our study.

Study Design: Retrospective analysis. Level of evidence III. Objectives: To describe the results after a minimum 1-year follow-up in patients treated with percutaneous discoplasty (PD), a minimally invasive technique to treat low back pain in elderly patients with advanced degenerative disc disease. The procedure consists in improving stability by injecting bone cement in a severely degenerated pneumodisc. There are few reports in the literature about this technique. Methods: Fifty-four patients with advanced disc disease with/without degenerative scoliosis treated with PD with at least 1 year follow-up were studied, variables included clinical (visual analogue scale [VAS] and Owestry Disability Index [ODI]) and radiological parameters (lumbar lordosis and Cobb angle), as well as hospital length of stay and complications. Results: At 1-year postoperation, significant pain reduction (VAS: preoperative 7.8 ± 0.90; postoperative 4.4 ± 2.18) and improvement in the ODI (preoperative 62 ± 7.12; postoperative 36.2 ± 15.47) were observed with partial correction of radiological parameters (5° mean increase in lumbar lordosis and decrease in Cobb angle). Mean surgical time was 38 minutes, and the mean length of hospital stay was 1.2 days. Conclusion: PD, currently not a very well-known technique, appears to be—at least in the short-term follow-up—an effective treatment option in selected cases with low back pain due to advanced degenerative disc disease.