Complications of Spine Surgery: Treatment and Prevention

Abstract

The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. British volumeVol. 89-B, No. 2 Book ReviewsFree AccessComplications of Spine Surgery: Treatment and Prevention Edited by: H. S. An and L. G. Jenis Pp. 235. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2006. ISBN: 0-7817-5791-6. $139.00.R. MarshallR. MarshallSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:1 Feb 2007https://doi.org/10.1302/0301-620X.89B2.0890283bAboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsAdd to Favourites ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail This is a thorough review of complications associated with spinal surgery. The text contains sufficient detail about the incidence of complications, why they occur, how to avoid them, and the different ways of overcoming the problems when they do arise. However, the target readership of spinal surgeons does not really need the protracted introduction concerning approaches to the spine, even though it is quite well done with some tips on patient positioning that could prove useful. The authors of one of the eight cervical spine chapters repetitively and irritatingly refer to the “Smith-Robinson approach” to the cervical spine, despite correctly ascribing it to Southwick and Robinson. This suggests a somewhat hurried production.Complications covered are not confined to the specific ones related to surgical approach and the use of instrumentation, but also include medical complications such as inappropriate ADH secretion, thromboembolism, gastrointestinal and cardiopulmonary problems. If anything, the bibliography is too exhaustive -the chapter on the complications of bone graft harvesting contains no less than 97 references! It was disappointing and surprising to find that the much-feared complication of infection after instrumented fusion was covered sketchily with very little in the way of practical advice for the surgeon, e.g. should the metal be removed, for how long should antibiotics be continued, and should they be administered intravenously or orally? The text and illustrations are not as clear as one has come to expect from the publishers.It would also have been helpful to have some more advice from the expert contributors, who seem to have been discouraged from giving their own opinions and reduced to the task of providing a rather sterile list of complications with an abundance of quotations from the literature. A sense of perspective is sadly lacking, and the readers are left to read quotation after quotation and then draw their own conclusions.The practising spinal surgeon will find this book useful background reading as well as a comprehensive reference source. He will not find all the practical solutions he requires, but the incidence and breadth of complications for each procedure will undoubtedly prove useful in providing details to patients in the process of obtaining informed consent.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited ByDysphonia, dysphagia, and injury of recurrent laryngeal nerve with anterior cervical spinal fusion30 July 2020 | Russian journal of neurosurgery, Vol. 22, No. 2 Vol. 89-B, No. 2 Metrics Downloaded 322 times History Published online 1 February 2007 Published in print 1 February 2007 InformationCopyright © 2007, The British Editorial Society of Bone and Joint Surgery: All rights reservedPDF download