Influence of Parkinson's Disease on the Perioperative Course of Patients after Lumbar Fusion Surgery

Abstract

The incidence of Morbus Parkinson (MP) increases with age. An increasing number of patients with MP in the orthopaedic patient population is expected. In the case of general surgery and trauma surgery MP in patients was identified as an important factor for perioperative morbidity. This study investigates the influence of MP on the perioperative course of patients after elective lumbar fusion. A retrospective matched-pairs analysis with 17 patients in each group was conducted with patients treated in the department of spinal surgery in an orthopaedic university hospital for symptomatic degenerative lumbar spine disease without improvement after conservative therapy. The analysis compared the perioperative courses of patients with MP (MP) and patients without MP (no MP) concerning duration of hospital and intensive care treatment, duration for mobilisation, rehabilitation and occurrence of complications. The mean duration of inpatient treatment (MP 18.4 ± 11.6 d; no MP 14.7 ± 5.4 d), duration of intensive care (MP 1.7 ± 4.2 d; no MP 1,0 ± 1,9 d) and duration for mobilisation (MP 8.8 ± 12.46 d; no MP 5.0 ± 4.2 d) tend to be longer for MP patients. There was no statistically significant difference between both patient groups. A rehabilitative inpatient follow-up treatment was more frequent in patients with MP (MP n = 4; no MP n = 2). None of the two groups showed an increased occurrence of complications. While general surgery and trauma surgery patients show significant differences regarding duration of inpatient treatment, more frequent falls and more frequent rehabilitative inpatient follow-up treatments, patients after elective lumbar fusion show only a trend. Possibly the result is due to the underlying degenerative disease of the lumbar spine with spinal stenosis and gait disturbance in the MP group and as well in the control group. Therefore both groups suffered from impaired mobility. Additionally there was a high incidence of other comorbidities in the control group, which could have affected the results of this study. Another limitation is the number of the included patients. Although, this study showed no increased occurrence of complications, typical risk factors, like increased risk for airway complications, urinary tract infection and falls, should be considered for the treatment of MP patients.