How Many Cases of Spine Surgery Are Performed in Germany? Method of Counting the Number of Cases of Spine Surgery in Germany.

Objective The number of cases of spinal DRGs (German Diagnosis-Related Groups) is calculated on the basis of the data released by the German DRG-Institute. The data thus obtained were subsequently compared with the previously publicly debated data of cases, which were based on the counting of OPS (German Procedure Classification) codes. Methods Specific and Nonspecific Spinal DRGs are identified according to the German Coding Guidelines and the OPS catalogs.