Journal of Craniovertebral Junction and Spine (Jan 2022)

What is a better value for your time? Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion versus cervical disc arthroplasty

  • Austen David Katz,
  • Junho Song,
  • Daniel Bowles,
  • Terence Ng,
  • Eric Neufeld,
  • Sayyida Hasan,
  • Dean Perfetti,
  • Nipun Sodhi,
  • David Essig,
  • Jeff Silber,
  • Sohrab Virk

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4103/jcvjs.jcvjs_69_22
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 3
pp. 331 – 338

Abstract

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Introduction: Compared to anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF), the motion preservation of cervical disc arthroplasty (CDA) provides an attractive alternative with similar short-term results. However, there is a paucity of the economics of performing CDA over ACDF. Study Design: This was retrospective study. Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate relative-value-units (RVUs), operative time, and RVUs-per-minute between single-level ACDF and CDA. Secondary outcomes included 30-day readmission, reoperation, and morbidity. Methods: Adults who underwent ACDF or CDA in 2011–2019 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database datasets. Multivariate quantile regression was utilized. Results: There were 26,595 patients (2024 CDA). ACDF patients were older, more likely to be female, discharged to inpatient rehabilitation, and have a history of obesity, smoking, diabetes, steroid use, and the American Society of Anesthesiologists-class ≥≥3. ACDF had greater median RVUs-per-case (41.2 vs. 24.1) and RVUs-per-minute (0.36 vs. 0.27), despite greater operative-time (109 min vs. 92 min) (P < 0.001). ACDF predicted a 16.9 unit increase in median RVUs per case (P < 0.001, confidence interval [CI]95: 16.3–17.5), an 8.81 min increase in median operative time per case (P < 0.001, CI95: 5.69–11.9), and 0.119 unit increase in median RVUs-per-minute (P < 0.001, CI95: 0.108–0.130). ACDF was associated with greater unadjusted rates of readmission (3.2% vs. 1.4%) morbidity (2.3% vs. 1.1%) (P < 0.001), but similar rates of reoperation (1.3% vs. 0.8%, P = 0.080). After adjusting for significant patient-related and procedural factors, readmission (odds ratio [OR] = 0.695, P = 0.130, CI95: 0.434–1.113) and morbidity (OR = 1.102, P = 0.688, CI95: 0.685–1.773) was similar between ACDF and CDA. Conclusions: Median RVUs-per-minute increased by 0.119 points for ACDF over CDA, or $257.7/h for each additional-hour of surgery. Adjusted 30-day outcomes were similar between procedures. Reimbursement for CDA does not appear to be in line with ACDF and may be a barrier to widespread usage.

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