Perioperative Complications of Laminoplasty in Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy -A Comparative Study Between Ossification of Posterior Longitudinal Ligament and Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy Using a Nationwide Inpatient Database.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Objectives: Laminoplasty (LAMP) is one of the effective methods to successfully achieve surgical decompression in patients with degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM). However, little evidence exists regarding the perioperative complications in LAMP for patients with ossification of the longitudinal ligament (OPLL) compared with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). We aimed to investigate the perioperative complication rates and medical costs of DCM, including OPLL and CSM patients who underwent LAMP using a large national inpatient database.

Methods: This study identified patients who underwent LAMP for OPLL and CSM from 2010 to 2016 using the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination database. We compared the incidence of perioperative complications (systemic and local), reoperation rates, medical costs during hospitalization, and mortality were between the OPLL and CSM groups after propensity score matching.

Results: This study included 22,714 patients (OPLL: 7485 patients, CSM: 15,229 patients). Consequently, 7169 pairs were matched. More perioperative systemic complications were detected in the OPLL group (one complication: 9.1% vs 7.7%; = .002), especially for pneumonia (.5% vs .2%; = .001) and dysphagia (.5% vs .2%; = .004). The local complication rate was also higher in the OPLL group (paralysis: 1.1% vs .6%, = .006; spinal fluid leakage: .4% vs .1%, = .002). The hospitalization costs were approximately $2300 higher ($19,024 vs $16,770; < .001) in the OPLL group.

Conclusions: More perioperative complications and higher medical costs were noted in patients with OPLL than in patients with CSM who underwent LAMP.