Perioperative outcomes after minimally invasive and open surgery for treatment of spine metastases: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis compared minimally invasive surgery (MIS) to open surgery for treatment of spinal metastases with respect to perioperative outcomes. Few studies have systemically assessed the body of evidence on this topic.

Methods: A systematic review of EMBASE and PubMed from database inception to December 2023 was performed to identify studies comparing MIS with open surgery for the treatment of spine metastases.

Post Hoc Bias in Treatment Decisions.

Importance: A goal of health care is to reduce symptoms and improve health status, whereas continuing dubious treatments can contribute to complacency, discourage the search for alternatives, and lead to shortfalls in care.

Objective: To test a potential bias in intuitive reasoning following a marginal improvement in symptoms after a dubious treatment (post hoc bias).

Design, Setting, And Participants: Surveys eliciting treatment recommendations for hypothetical patients were sent to community members throughout North America recruited via an online survey platform in the early winter months of 2023 and 2024 and presented to health care professionals (pharmacists who were approached in person using a secret shopper technique) in the summer months of 2023.