Review
- Mert Marcel Dagli1, MD ;
- Ryan William Turlip1, BA ;
- Felix C Oettl2,3, MD ;
- Mohamed Emara4 ;
- Jaskeerat Gujral1 ;
- Daksh Chauhan1, BS ;
- Hasan S Ahmad1, MD ;
- Gabrielle Santangelo1, MD ;
- Connor Wathen1, MD ;
- Yohannes Ghenbot1, MD ;
- John D Arena1, MD ;
- Joshua L Golubovsky1, MD ;
- Ben J Gu1, MD ;
- John H Shin1, MD ;
- Jang Won Yoon1, MD, MSc ;
- Ali K Ozturk1, MD ;
- William C Welch1, MD
1Department of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
2Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY, United States
3Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Balgrist University Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
4College of Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Corresponding Author:
Mert Marcel Dagli, MD
Department of Neurosurgery
Perelman School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania
801 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA, 19107
United States
Phone: 1 2672306493
Email: Marcel.Dagli@Pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Abstract
Background: Adult spinal deformity (ASD) is a prevalent condition often treated with circumferential spinal fusion (CF), which can be performed as staged or same-day procedures. However, evidence guiding the choice between these approaches is lacking.
Objective: This study aims to compare patient outcomes following staged and same-day CF for ASD.
Methods: Following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, a comprehensive literature search was conducted in PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane CENTRAL, Web of Science, and Scopus. Eligibility criteria included studies comparing outcomes following staged and same-day CF in adults with ASD. Searches were exported to Covidence, and records were deduplicated automatically. Title and abstract screening, full-text review, and data extraction were performed by two independent reviewers, with all conflicts being resolved by a third reviewer. A meta-analysis was conducted for outcomes reported in 3 or more studies.
Results: Seven studies with 741 patients undergoing CF for ASD were included in the review (staged: n=331, 44.7% and same-day: n=410, 55.3%). Four studies that had comparable outcomes were merged for the quantitative meta-analysis and split based on observed measures. The meta-analysis revealed significantly shorter hospital length of stay (mean difference 3.98, 95% CI 2.23-5.72 days; P<.001) for same-day CF. Three studies compared the operative time between staged and same-day CF, with all reporting a lower mean operative time for same-day CF (mean between 291-479, SD 129 minutes) compared to staged CF (mean between 426-541, SD 124 minutes); however, inconsistent reporting of mean and SD made quantitative analyses unattainable. Of the 4 studies that compared estimated blood loss (EBL) in the relevant groups, 3 presented a lower EBL (mean between 412-1127, SD 954 mL) in same-day surgery compared to staged surgery (mean between 642, SD 550 to 1351, SD 869 mL). Both studies that reported intra- and postoperative adverse events showed more intraoperative adverse events in staged CF (10.9% and 13.6%, respectively) compared to same-day CF (9.1% and 3.6%, respectively). Four studies measuring any perioperative adverse events showed a higher incidence of adverse events in staged CF than all studies combined. However, quantitative analysis of EBL, intraoperative adverse events, and perioperative adverse events found no statistically significant difference. Postoperative adverse events, reoperation, infection rates, and readmission rates showed inconsistent findings between studies. Data quality assessment revealed a moderate degree of bias for all included studies.
Conclusions: Same-day CF may offer shorter operating time and hospital stay compared to staged CF for ASD. However, there was marked heterogeneity in perioperative outcomes reporting, and continuous variables were inconsistently presented. This underscored the need for standardized reporting of clinical variables and patient-reported outcomes and higher evidence of randomized controlled trials to elucidate the clinical superiority of either approach.
Trial Registration: PROSPERO CRD42022339764; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=339764
International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): RR2-10.2196/42331
doi:10.2196/67290
Keywords
Introduction
Adult spinal deformity (ASD) is defined as abnormal curvature of the spine and is becoming increasingly prevalent, affecting up to 68% of the older adult population [Kim HJ, Yang JH, Chang D, Lenke LG, Suh SW, Nam Y, et al. Adult spinal deformity: a comprehensive review of current advances and future directions. Asian Spine J. 2022;16(5):776-788. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]1,Cerpa M, Lenke LG, Fehlings MG, Shaffrey CI, Cheung KMC, Carreon LY. Evolution and advancement of adult spinal deformity research and clinical care: an overview of the Scoli-RISK-1 study. Global Spine J. 2019;9:8S-14S. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]2]. ASD is a complex spectrum of spinal pathology, including deformities such as lordosis, kyphosis, or scoliosis of the lumbar and thoracic spinal column. Although untreated adolescent ASD does occur, it typically presents in patients older than 60 years due to factors such as age-related spinal degeneration or reduced bone density [Kim HJ, Yang JH, Chang D, Lenke LG, Suh SW, Nam Y, et al. Adult spinal deformity: a comprehensive review of current advances and future directions. Asian Spine J. 2022;16(5):776-788. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]1,Diebo BG, Shah NV, Boachie-Adjei O, Zhu F, Rothenfluh DA, Paulino CB, et al. Adult spinal deformity. Lancet. 2019;394(10193):160-172. [CrossRef] [Medline]3].
Individuals with ASD can undergo expectant (observation alone), nonoperative, or operative therapies. At present, there is no high-quality evidence to support the decisions surgeons and patients face in treatment selection [Youssef JA, Orndorff DO, Patty CA, Scott MA, Price HL, Hamlin LF, et al. Current status of adult spinal deformity. Global Spine J. 2013;3(1):51-62. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]4]. In past years, pain management and physical therapy were the preferred treatment options for ASD due to the high risk of adverse events, prolonged recovery time, and financial burden associated with surgical intervention [Kim HJ, Yang JH, Chang D, Lenke LG, Suh SW, Nam Y, et al. Adult spinal deformity: a comprehensive review of current advances and future directions. Asian Spine J. 2022;16(5):776-788. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]1,Aebi M. The adult scoliosis. Eur Spine J. 2005;14(10):925-948. [CrossRef] [Medline]5]. If nonsurgical approaches fail to improve patients’ quality of life, surgical intervention is often considered. Multicenter retrospective cohort studies previously showed an improvement in patient-reported outcomes following the surgical management of ASD [Diebo BG, Shah NV, Boachie-Adjei O, Zhu F, Rothenfluh DA, Paulino CB, et al. Adult spinal deformity. Lancet. 2019;394(10193):160-172. [CrossRef] [Medline]3,Kim HJ, Chang D. Clinical and radiographic parameters for patients with adult spinal deformity. J Korean Med Assoc. 2021;64(11):743-747. [CrossRef]6]. Indications for surgery include (1) progressive curvature of the spine with sagittal or coronal imbalance, (2) significant loss of pulmonary function caused by the misalignment and deformity, and (3) loss of function due to pain associated with spinal curvature [Bradford DS, Tay BK, Hu SS. Adult scoliosis: surgical indications, operative management, complications, and outcomes. Spine. 1999;24(24):2617-2629. [CrossRef] [Medline]7-Ames CP, Scheer JK, Lafage V, Smith JS, Bess S, Berven SH, et al. Adult spinal deformity: epidemiology, health impact, evaluation, and management. Spine Deform. 2016;4(4):310-322. [CrossRef] [Medline]10]. These are weighted against the patient comorbidities and risks of operation [Good CR, Auerbach JD, O'Leary PT, Schuler TC. Adult spine deformity. Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med. 2011;4(4):159-167. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]11].
Long-segment surgical management by circumferential spinal fusion (CF) has increased in popularity due to its added stability granted by both anterior and posterior fixation of the spinal column [Dagli MM, Narang S, Malhotra K, Santangelo G, Wathen C, Ghenbot Y, et al. The differences between same-day and staged (circumferential) fusion surgery in adult spinal deformity: protocol for a systematic review. JMIR Res Protoc. 2022;11(11):e42331. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]12]. CF attempts to remedy the limitations of lateral approaches alone, such as the need for intraoperative patient repositioning, which increases operative time and puts the patient at risk for adverse events due to longer time under anesthesia [Thomas JA, Menezes C, Buckland AJ, Khajavi K, Ashayeri K, Braly BA, et al. Single-position circumferential lumbar spinal fusion: an overview of terminology, concepts, rationale and the current evidence base. Eur Spine J. 2022;31(9):2167-2174. [CrossRef] [Medline]13-Hersey AE, Durand WM, Eltorai AEM, DePasse JM, Daniels AH. Longer operative time in elderly patients undergoing posterior lumbar fusion is independently associated with increased complication rate. Global Spine J. 2019;9(2):179-184. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]15]. ASD can be treated by CF in 2 primary ways: staged and same day. Staged fusions occur on 2 distinct operative days, while same-day fusions are completed within a single session. Staging is largely determined by surgeon preference and case complexity, which can cause variability in the clinical management of ASD. The preference to treat with or without staging does not necessitate a gold-standard treatment for a given case complexity but rather can depend on surgical training differences and hospital administration pressures. To our knowledge, there has not been a review of published literature on staging in CF. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to assess and quantify the patient outcomes after staged and same-day CF for ASD to guide operative decision-making and patient selection.
Methods
Guidelines, Protocol, and Registration
The design and reporting of this study were supported by the following guidelines: PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses; PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) checklist.Multimedia Appendix 1
Eligibility Criteria
The Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome (PICO) framework was used to formulate inclusion criteria.
- Population: Adults with ASD
- Intervention: Staged CF surgery
- Comparison: Same-day CF surgery
- Outcomes: Perioperative outcomes (estimated blood loss [EBL], operative time, and length of hospital stay), adverse events, infection rates, and hospital readmissions or reoperations
Studies that do not differ in surgical timing (staged vs same day), nonhuman or adolescent patient populations, reviews, conference abstracts, single-case studies, or technical notes were excluded from the analysis. Further, only studies originally published in English were considered.
Search Strategy
Databases explored included PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane CENTRAL, Web of Science, and Scopus. A literature search was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines on August 2, 2023. We used a complex search string that was modified and fitted to the unique search functions of each queried database ( Supplemental search strings for query.Multimedia Appendix 2
Data Selection and Extraction
Studies and full text were screened, data were extracted using Covidence (Veritas Health Innovation), and duplicates were automatically removed by the software [Covidence Systematic Review Software, Veritas Health Innovation. URL: https://www.covidence.org/ [accessed 2025-01-15] 18]. Titles and abstracts were first screened independently by 2 reviewers (FCO and ME). Next, the full text of each paper was assessed by 2 reviewers (FCO and ME) to determine the eligibility of the studies. At both stages, a third reviewer (MMD) resolved any conflicts. The following data were extracted by two authors (FCO and ME) with a third (MMD) resolving any conflicts: authors; publication year; location; number of patients; age; study type; population details; surgery details; and results, including intraoperative adverse events, postoperative adverse events, postoperative infection, perioperative adverse events, hospital length of stay (LOS), intensive care unit (ICU) LOS, reoperation, readmission, and patient-reported outcomes.
Data Quality
The ROBINS-I (Cochrane) tool was used to assess the risk of bias in the included nonrandomized studies, covering bias due to confounding variables, patient selection, classification of interventions, deviations from intended interventions, missing data, measurement of outcomes, and selection of reported results [Sterne JA, Hernán MA, Reeves BC, Savović J, Berkman ND, Viswanathan M, et al. ROBINS-I: a tool for assessing risk of bias in non-randomised studies of interventions. BMJ. 2016;355:i4919. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]19]. Two reviewers (FCO and JG) independently scored all domains, with a third reviewer (MMD) resolving any conflicts. Robvis was used for figure generation [McGuinness LA, Higgins JPT. Risk-of-bias VISualization (robvis): An R package and shiny web app for visualizing risk-of-bias assessments. Res Synth Methods. 2021;12(1):55-61. [CrossRef] [Medline]20].
Data Synthesis
Studies with comparable outcomes were merged for the quantitative meta-analysis and split based on observed measures. After conducting a qualitative evaluation, we determined that there were sufficient data to perform a meta-analysis. RevMan (version 8.4; Cochrane) using random-effects modeling was used for all quantitative analyses. Mean differences for continuous variables (surgical time, EBL, hospital LOS, and ICU LOS) and odds ratios for categorical variables (intraoperative adverse events, postoperative adverse events, postoperative infection, any adverse events, readmission, and reoperation) were the end points of the meta-analysis.
Results
Study Identification
In our search (Figure 1), we identified 5199 unique studies by searching PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane CENTRAL, Web of Science, and Scopus, which were included for abstract screening, of which 64 were forwarded for full-text screening. After full-text review, 7 original studies were included in the data extraction process and 4 of them were in the quantitative analysis [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21-Than KD, Park P, Tran S, Mundis GM, Fu K, Uribe JS, et al. Analysis of complications with staged surgery for less invasive treatment of adult spinal deformity. World Neurosurg. 2019;126:e1337-e1342. [CrossRef] [Medline]27]. Studies were excluded during the full-text review for the following reasons: wrong comparator (n=19, 29.7%), wrong patient population (n=19, 29.7%), pediatric population (n=11, 17.2%), wrong outcomes reported (n=5, 7.8%), and wrong study design (n=4, 6.3%).

Baseline Parameters
Six of the studies included were conducted in the United States [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21-Harris AB, Puvanesarajah V, Raad M, Marrache M, Ren M, Skolasky RL, et al. How is staging of ALIF following posterior spinal arthrodesis to the pelvis related to functional improvement in patients with adult spinal deformity? Spine Deform. 2021;9(4):1085-1091. [CrossRef] [Medline]25,Than KD, Park P, Tran S, Mundis GM, Fu K, Uribe JS, et al. Analysis of complications with staged surgery for less invasive treatment of adult spinal deformity. World Neurosurg. 2019;126:e1337-e1342. [CrossRef] [Medline]27], while 1 study was conducted in Japan [Masuda S, Fujibayashi S, Takemoto M, Ota M, Onishi E, Odate S, et al. Association of two-staged surgery with systemic perioperative complications in lateral lumbar interbody fusion for adult spinal deformity: a propensity score-weighted study. Eur Spine J. 2023;32(3):950-956. [CrossRef] [Medline]26]. The included studies describe a total of 741 patients undergoing either staged (n=331, 44.7%) or same-day (n=410, 55.3%) CF for ASD: 297 (40.1%) patients underwent anterior lumbar interbody fusion, 408 (55.1%) patients underwent lateral interbody fusion (extreme lateral interbody fusion, direct lateral interbody fusion, and lateral lumbar interbody fusion), 54 (7%) patients underwent either lateral lumbar interbody fusion or transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion, and all 741 patients underwent posterior spinal fixation. The average number of fused vertebrae across studies ranged from 4.4 to 10 (SD 3.9). The largest variation between groups within a study ranged from 7.3 (SD 3.1) in the same-day group versus 10 (SD 3.9) in the staged group. The combined mean vertebrae fused for staged and same-day CF was 7.54 (SD 2.41) and 6.62 (SD 2.40), respectively. The follow-up period over all included studies ranged from 1 to more than 36 months, and the average age of patients ranged from 58.8 (SD 9.0) to 72.3 years. The patients included in the study of Masuda et al [Masuda S, Fujibayashi S, Takemoto M, Ota M, Onishi E, Odate S, et al. Association of two-staged surgery with systemic perioperative complications in lateral lumbar interbody fusion for adult spinal deformity: a propensity score-weighted study. Eur Spine J. 2023;32(3):950-956. [CrossRef] [Medline]26] and Albayar et al [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21] were inverse probability weighted to facilitate the comparison of spinal deformity and control for any differences between the groups (Table 1).
Authors (year) | Country | Patients | Age | Study type | Population details and differences | Surgery details | Results |
Albayar et al (2023) [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21] | United States |
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Anand et al (2014) [Anand N, Baron EM, Khandehroo B. Is circumferential minimally invasive surgery effective in the treatment of moderate adult idiopathic scoliosis? Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2014;472(6):1762-1768. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]22] | United States |
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Anand et al (2013) [Anand N, Baron EM, Khandehroo B, Kahwaty S. Long-term 2- to 5-year clinical and functional outcomes of minimally invasive surgery for adult scoliosis. Spine. 2013;38(18):1566-1575. [CrossRef] [Medline]23] | United States |
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Arzeno et al (2019) [Arzeno AH, Koltsov J, Alamin TF, Cheng I, Wood KB, Hu SS. Short-term outcomes of staged versus same-day surgery for adult spinal deformity correction. Spine Deform. 2019;7(5):796-803.e1. [CrossRef] [Medline]24] | United States |
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Harris et al (2021) [Harris AB, Puvanesarajah V, Raad M, Marrache M, Ren M, Skolasky RL, et al. How is staging of ALIF following posterior spinal arthrodesis to the pelvis related to functional improvement in patients with adult spinal deformity? Spine Deform. 2021;9(4):1085-1091. [CrossRef] [Medline]25] | United States |
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Masuda et al (2023) [Masuda S, Fujibayashi S, Takemoto M, Ota M, Onishi E, Odate S, et al. Association of two-staged surgery with systemic perioperative complications in lateral lumbar interbody fusion for adult spinal deformity: a propensity score-weighted study. Eur Spine J. 2023;32(3):950-956. [CrossRef] [Medline]26] | Japan |
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Than et al (2019) [Than KD, Park P, Tran S, Mundis GM, Fu K, Uribe JS, et al. Analysis of complications with staged surgery for less invasive treatment of adult spinal deformity. World Neurosurg. 2019;126:e1337-e1342. [CrossRef] [Medline]27] | United States |
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aASD: adult spinal deformity.
bALIF: anterior lumbar interbody fusion.
cPSF: posterior spinal fusion.
dEBL: estimated blood loss.
eLOS: length of stay.
fIOAE: intraoperative adverse events
gPOAE: postoperative adverse events.
hPOI: postoperative infection.
icMISS: circumferential minimally invasive spinal surgery.
jDLIF: direct lateral interbody fusion.
kXLIF: extreme lateral interbody fusion.
lOR: operating room.
mPEAE: perioperative adverse events.
nODI: Oswestry Disability Index.
oSRS-22r: Scoliosis Research Society-22 revised.
pLLIF: lateral lumbar interbody fusion.
qAAE: any adverse events.
rN/A: not available.
sSVA: sagittal vertical axis.
tLL: lumbar lordosis.
uMIS: minimally invasive surgery.
vTLIF: transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion.
Quantitative Analysis
Of the included studies, 4 studies compared EBL in the relevant groups, with 3 studies presenting a lower EBL (mean between 412-1127, SD 954 mL) in same-day surgery compared to staged surgery (mean between 642, SD 550, and 1351, SD 869 mL) [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21-Arzeno AH, Koltsov J, Alamin TF, Cheng I, Wood KB, Hu SS. Short-term outcomes of staged versus same-day surgery for adult spinal deformity correction. Spine Deform. 2019;7(5):796-803.e1. [CrossRef] [Medline]24]. The meta-analysis shows a nonsignificant advantage for same-day surgery (Figure 2A [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21,Arzeno AH, Koltsov J, Alamin TF, Cheng I, Wood KB, Hu SS. Short-term outcomes of staged versus same-day surgery for adult spinal deformity correction. Spine Deform. 2019;7(5):796-803.e1. [CrossRef] [Medline]24,Masuda S, Fujibayashi S, Takemoto M, Ota M, Onishi E, Odate S, et al. Association of two-staged surgery with systemic perioperative complications in lateral lumbar interbody fusion for adult spinal deformity: a propensity score-weighted study. Eur Spine J. 2023;32(3):950-956. [CrossRef] [Medline]26]). Only 2 studies that measured EBL were included in the quantitative analysis because of inconsistencies in reporting, where some did not report variables as measures of variance, which made pooling in these instances not feasible. Three studies compared the operative time between staged and same-day CF, with all of them reporting a lower mean operative time for same-day CF (mean between 291-479 minutes) compared to staged CF (mean between 426-541 minutes) [Anand N, Baron EM, Khandehroo B. Is circumferential minimally invasive surgery effective in the treatment of moderate adult idiopathic scoliosis? Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2014;472(6):1762-1768. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]22-Arzeno AH, Koltsov J, Alamin TF, Cheng I, Wood KB, Hu SS. Short-term outcomes of staged versus same-day surgery for adult spinal deformity correction. Spine Deform. 2019;7(5):796-803.e1. [CrossRef] [Medline]24]. Just 1 group reported mean and SD for odds ratio time, thus restricting the potential for a quantitative analysis.
Three studies comparatively evaluated the hospital LOS [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21,Anand N, Baron EM, Khandehroo B. Is circumferential minimally invasive surgery effective in the treatment of moderate adult idiopathic scoliosis? Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2014;472(6):1762-1768. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]22,Harris AB, Puvanesarajah V, Raad M, Marrache M, Ren M, Skolasky RL, et al. How is staging of ALIF following posterior spinal arthrodesis to the pelvis related to functional improvement in patients with adult spinal deformity? Spine Deform. 2021;9(4):1085-1091. [CrossRef] [Medline]25]. All three studies consistently found that the mean LOS was less for same-day CF (mean between 6-34.1 days) in comparison to staged CF (mean between 9-42 days). The meta-analysis clearly presented a shorter LOS in patients undergoing same-day CF compared to staged CF (Figure 2B).
Two of the 7 studies compared intraoperative and postoperative adverse events between staged and same-day CF procedures [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21,Masuda S, Fujibayashi S, Takemoto M, Ota M, Onishi E, Odate S, et al. Association of two-staged surgery with systemic perioperative complications in lateral lumbar interbody fusion for adult spinal deformity: a propensity score-weighted study. Eur Spine J. 2023;32(3):950-956. [CrossRef] [Medline]26]. Both Masuda et al [Masuda S, Fujibayashi S, Takemoto M, Ota M, Onishi E, Odate S, et al. Association of two-staged surgery with systemic perioperative complications in lateral lumbar interbody fusion for adult spinal deformity: a propensity score-weighted study. Eur Spine J. 2023;32(3):950-956. [CrossRef] [Medline]26] and Albayar et al [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21] reported more intraoperative adverse events in staged CF (10.9% and 13.6%, respectively) compared to same-day CF (9.1% and 3.6%, respectively); however, the meta-analysis failed to show a statistically significant difference between the groups (Figure 3A [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21-Than KD, Park P, Tran S, Mundis GM, Fu K, Uribe JS, et al. Analysis of complications with staged surgery for less invasive treatment of adult spinal deformity. World Neurosurg. 2019;126:e1337-e1342. [CrossRef] [Medline]27]). Masuda et al [Masuda S, Fujibayashi S, Takemoto M, Ota M, Onishi E, Odate S, et al. Association of two-staged surgery with systemic perioperative complications in lateral lumbar interbody fusion for adult spinal deformity: a propensity score-weighted study. Eur Spine J. 2023;32(3):950-956. [CrossRef] [Medline]26] reported fewer postoperative adverse events in staged CF (10.9 vs 12.4%), while Albayar et al [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21] presented a lower incidence in same-day CF (53.6 vs 68.2%), without a significant difference in the meta-analysis (
Figure 3B). Four studies measured any perioperative adverse events [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21,Anand N, Baron EM, Khandehroo B. Is circumferential minimally invasive surgery effective in the treatment of moderate adult idiopathic scoliosis? Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2014;472(6):1762-1768. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]22,Masuda S, Fujibayashi S, Takemoto M, Ota M, Onishi E, Odate S, et al. Association of two-staged surgery with systemic perioperative complications in lateral lumbar interbody fusion for adult spinal deformity: a propensity score-weighted study. Eur Spine J. 2023;32(3):950-956. [CrossRef] [Medline]26,Than KD, Park P, Tran S, Mundis GM, Fu K, Uribe JS, et al. Analysis of complications with staged surgery for less invasive treatment of adult spinal deformity. World Neurosurg. 2019;126:e1337-e1342. [CrossRef] [Medline]27]. The overarching analysis showed a higher incidence of adverse events in Staged CF over all studies; however, the meta-analysis did not show significance (
Figure 3D).


Four of the included studies compared reoperation and postoperative infection rates between patient groups [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21,Anand N, Baron EM, Khandehroo B. Is circumferential minimally invasive surgery effective in the treatment of moderate adult idiopathic scoliosis? Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2014;472(6):1762-1768. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]22,Masuda S, Fujibayashi S, Takemoto M, Ota M, Onishi E, Odate S, et al. Association of two-staged surgery with systemic perioperative complications in lateral lumbar interbody fusion for adult spinal deformity: a propensity score-weighted study. Eur Spine J. 2023;32(3):950-956. [CrossRef] [Medline]26,Than KD, Park P, Tran S, Mundis GM, Fu K, Uribe JS, et al. Analysis of complications with staged surgery for less invasive treatment of adult spinal deformity. World Neurosurg. 2019;126:e1337-e1342. [CrossRef] [Medline]27]. Albayar et al [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21] and Masuda et al [Masuda S, Fujibayashi S, Takemoto M, Ota M, Onishi E, Odate S, et al. Association of two-staged surgery with systemic perioperative complications in lateral lumbar interbody fusion for adult spinal deformity: a propensity score-weighted study. Eur Spine J. 2023;32(3):950-956. [CrossRef] [Medline]26] showed a slightly lower postoperative infection in same-day CF versus staged CF (4.4 vs 6.4%, 2.6 vs 4%, and 1.7 vs 11.4% respectively), while Than et al [Than KD, Park P, Tran S, Mundis GM, Fu K, Uribe JS, et al. Analysis of complications with staged surgery for less invasive treatment of adult spinal deformity. World Neurosurg. 2019;126:e1337-e1342. [CrossRef] [Medline]27] showed a lower postoperative infection in staged CF (0% vs 3.7%;Figure 3C). While Arzeno et al [Arzeno AH, Koltsov J, Alamin TF, Cheng I, Wood KB, Hu SS. Short-term outcomes of staged versus same-day surgery for adult spinal deformity correction. Spine Deform. 2019;7(5):796-803.e1. [CrossRef] [Medline]24] and Than et al [Than KD, Park P, Tran S, Mundis GM, Fu K, Uribe JS, et al. Analysis of complications with staged surgery for less invasive treatment of adult spinal deformity. World Neurosurg. 2019;126:e1337-e1342. [CrossRef] [Medline]27] reported a lower reoperation in patients undergoing staged CF (11.1 vs 14.9% and 14.8 vs 25.9%, respectively). Masuda et al [Masuda S, Fujibayashi S, Takemoto M, Ota M, Onishi E, Odate S, et al. Association of two-staged surgery with systemic perioperative complications in lateral lumbar interbody fusion for adult spinal deformity: a propensity score-weighted study. Eur Spine J. 2023;32(3):950-956. [CrossRef] [Medline]26] and Albayar et al [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21] reported less reoperation in patients undergoing same-day CF versus staged CF (10.2 vs 10.9% and 14.2 vs 22.7% respectively). However, none of these differences in reoperation reached statistical significance in either the original respective studies or our meta-analysis (
Figure 3F).
Readmission rates reported by Arzeno et al [Arzeno AH, Koltsov J, Alamin TF, Cheng I, Wood KB, Hu SS. Short-term outcomes of staged versus same-day surgery for adult spinal deformity correction. Spine Deform. 2019;7(5):796-803.e1. [CrossRef] [Medline]24] and Albayar et al [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21] demonstrated diverging results. Arzeno et al [Arzeno AH, Koltsov J, Alamin TF, Cheng I, Wood KB, Hu SS. Short-term outcomes of staged versus same-day surgery for adult spinal deformity correction. Spine Deform. 2019;7(5):796-803.e1. [CrossRef] [Medline]24] found a lower readmission for staged CF versus same-day CF (2.2 vs 12.8%), while Albayar et al [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21] reported a higher readmission in staged CF versus same-day CF (22.7 vs 14.3%). The meta-analysis did not indicate a conclusive result (Figure 3E). Harris et al [Harris AB, Puvanesarajah V, Raad M, Marrache M, Ren M, Skolasky RL, et al. How is staging of ALIF following posterior spinal arthrodesis to the pelvis related to functional improvement in patients with adult spinal deformity? Spine Deform. 2021;9(4):1085-1091. [CrossRef] [Medline]25] are the only authors reporting on either the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) or the Scoliosis Research Society Score, showing a better outcome measured by the ODI in same-day CF and no difference in Scoliosis Research Society Score.
Risk of Bias Analysis
There was a moderate degree of bias for all included studies (Figure 4 [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21-Than KD, Park P, Tran S, Mundis GM, Fu K, Uribe JS, et al. Analysis of complications with staged surgery for less invasive treatment of adult spinal deformity. World Neurosurg. 2019;126:e1337-e1342. [CrossRef] [Medline]27]).

Discussion
Overview
In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we compared differences in perioperative outcome variables for individuals undergoing staged or same-day CF in 7 included studies. The meta-analysis revealed a statistically significant increase in hospital LOS in the staged group when compared to the same-day group. There were no statistically significant differences in EBL, intraoperative adverse event, postoperative adverse event, postoperative infection, perioperative adverse event, 30-day readmission, and reoperation rates between patients who underwent staged or same-day CF for ASD. There were marked differences between patient populations and the subsequent clinical outcomes that were reported in each observational study, which most did not adjust for. Our quantitative results are paradoxical as there were inconsistencies between studies in the staged and same-day subgroups for certain reported outcomes, while other findings had stronger conclusive evidence. Due to the apparent differences in consensus, the research included in the following discussion is organized according to the consistency of results.
Mixed Findings
Heterogeneity in meta-analyses grants the opportunity to examine variable factors that may be leading to the results. There were several reported outcomes that yielded inconclusive evidence in this study. Adverse event rates were reported by authors in several ways, with some splitting between intraoperative or postoperative adverse events, while others reported any adverse event throughout the perioperative course. Two studies reported more intraoperative adverse events in staged CF, but the meta-analysis failed to show a statistically significant difference. This can indicate that there is an increased operative risk when staging, but it can also be due to the generally sicker patients with more spinal deformity that is leading to increased intraoperative adverse events. Further, 1 study presented a lower postoperative adverse events rate during staged CF, while a different group found a higher rate in staged, indicating no difference in postoperative complications between the 2 approaches. When all perioperative adverse events were instead considered, every study reported a higher incidence in staged CF, and this result trended toward significance. Vastly different conclusions depending on the stage of surgery in which the adverse events are considered illuminate the need for greater consistency in reporting outcomes. However, the increased perioperative adverse events seen in staged CF, although not statistically significant, could be clinically important in decision-making.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services targeted 30-day readmission rates as a source of unnecessary costs [McIlvennan CK, Eapen ZJ, Allen LA. Hospital readmissions reduction program. Circulation. 2015;131(20):1796-1803. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]28]. A study conducted by McCarthy et al [McCarthy IM, Hostin RA, Ames CP, Kim HJ, Smith JS, Boachie-Adjei O, et al. Total hospital costs of surgical treatment for adult spinal deformity: an extended follow-up study. Spine J. 2014;14(10):2326-2333. [CrossRef] [Medline]29] found the total hospital costs to surgically treat ASD averaged US $120,394, with primary surgery averaging US $103,143, and total readmission costs of US $67,262 for their cohort. The high costs associated with spine surgery make patient readmission and reoperation lucrative targets. There is profound heterogeneity in reoperation and readmission rates that depend on several factors, such as patient demographics, procedure types, and institutional factors. A recent systematic review found the 30-day readmission rate in spine surgery to be 4.2% and 7.4% [Bernatz JT, Anderson PA. Thirty-day readmission rates in spine surgery: systematic review and meta-analysis. Neurosurg Focus. 2015;39(4):E7. [CrossRef] [Medline]30]. In this review, 2 studies reported readmission with diverging results. Arzeno et al [Arzeno AH, Koltsov J, Alamin TF, Cheng I, Wood KB, Hu SS. Short-term outcomes of staged versus same-day surgery for adult spinal deformity correction. Spine Deform. 2019;7(5):796-803.e1. [CrossRef] [Medline]24] found a lower readmission for staged CF, while Albayar et al [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21] reported a higher readmission for same-day CF. Likewise, 4 studies reported reoperation with a split in consensus [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21,Arzeno AH, Koltsov J, Alamin TF, Cheng I, Wood KB, Hu SS. Short-term outcomes of staged versus same-day surgery for adult spinal deformity correction. Spine Deform. 2019;7(5):796-803.e1. [CrossRef] [Medline]24,Masuda S, Fujibayashi S, Takemoto M, Ota M, Onishi E, Odate S, et al. Association of two-staged surgery with systemic perioperative complications in lateral lumbar interbody fusion for adult spinal deformity: a propensity score-weighted study. Eur Spine J. 2023;32(3):950-956. [CrossRef] [Medline]26,Than KD, Park P, Tran S, Mundis GM, Fu K, Uribe JS, et al. Analysis of complications with staged surgery for less invasive treatment of adult spinal deformity. World Neurosurg. 2019;126:e1337-e1342. [CrossRef] [Medline]27]. Given the small number of studies that measured reoperation and readmission, the results from our meta-analysis were inconclusive. The lack of statistically significant differences in the quantitative analysis combined with the heterogeneity in the qualitative review indicates that no differences in readmission and reoperation rates exist between the 2 groups.
It was also uncommon for the included studies to report specific reasons that reoperation or readmission occurred. As readmission depends on many variables including patient comorbidities, initial risk, or operative adverse events, it is crucial for authors to include these measures in future comparative studies for stronger subgroup analyses. Postoperative infection is also a driver leading to reoperation or readmission, as well as additional health care costs [Anderson PA, Savage JW, Vaccaro AR, Radcliff K, Arnold PM, Lawrence BD, et al. Prevention of surgical site infection in spine surgery. Neurosurgery. 2017;80(3S):S114-S123. [CrossRef] [Medline]31]. A recent meta-analysis found the pooled incidence of surgical site infection in 22,475 patients to be 3.1% [Zhou J, Wang R, Huo X, Xiong W, Kang L, Xue Y. Incidence of surgical site infection after spine surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Spine. 2020;45(3):208-216. [CrossRef] [Medline]32]. Our included studies also reported a low incidence of postoperative infection; however, there were inconsistencies as 3 out of the 4 groups found a lower postoperative infection in same-day CF [Albayar A, Santangelo G, Spadola M, Macaluso D, Ali ZS, Saifi C, et al. Comparison of staged vs same-day circumferential spinal fusions for adult spinal deformity. Int J Spine Surg. 2023;17(6):843-855. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]21,Arzeno AH, Koltsov J, Alamin TF, Cheng I, Wood KB, Hu SS. Short-term outcomes of staged versus same-day surgery for adult spinal deformity correction. Spine Deform. 2019;7(5):796-803.e1. [CrossRef] [Medline]24,Masuda S, Fujibayashi S, Takemoto M, Ota M, Onishi E, Odate S, et al. Association of two-staged surgery with systemic perioperative complications in lateral lumbar interbody fusion for adult spinal deformity: a propensity score-weighted study. Eur Spine J. 2023;32(3):950-956. [CrossRef] [Medline]26,Than KD, Park P, Tran S, Mundis GM, Fu K, Uribe JS, et al. Analysis of complications with staged surgery for less invasive treatment of adult spinal deformity. World Neurosurg. 2019;126:e1337-e1342. [CrossRef] [Medline]27]. There are several risk factors for postoperative infection that may lead to heterogeneity. Farshad et al [Farshad M, Bauer DE, Wechsler C, Gerber C, Aichmair A. Risk factors for perioperative morbidity in spine surgeries of different complexities: a multivariate analysis of 1,009 consecutive patients. Spine J. 2018;18(9):1625-1631. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]33] found that intraoperative EBL was a risk factor for postoperative infection. Some studies found BMIs to be predictors of postoperative infection, although this result remains controversial [Abdallah DY, Jadaan MM, McCabe JP. Body mass index and risk of surgical site infection following spine surgery: a meta-analysis. Eur Spine J. 2013;22(12):2800-2809. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]34-Capen DA, Calderone RR, Green A. Perioperative risk factors for wound infections after lower back fusions. Orthop Clin North Am. 1996;27(1):83-86. [CrossRef]36]. The discrepancies seen in this review may stem from variations in surgical techniques, perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis, institutional differences, and patient-specific risk factors. The results of this study’s meta-analysis do not support any difference between the 2 techniques in postoperation infection risk.
Associations of Operative Variables in CF Staging
For highly invasive spine surgeries, such as long-segmented CF for ASD, patients may require extended resource use [Reis RC, de Oliveira MF, Rotta JM, Botelho RV. Risk of complications in spine surgery: a prospective study. Open Orthop J. 2015;9:20-25. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]37]. Surgical operative time and LOS are critical metrics in evaluating the efficiency and resource use of staging in CF. Shorter surgical times are generally associated with reduced intraoperative adverse events, lower anesthesia-related risks, and decreased blood loss, thus contributing to improved patient safety and outcomes [Hersey AE, Durand WM, Eltorai AEM, DePasse JM, Daniels AH. Longer operative time in elderly patients undergoing posterior lumbar fusion is independently associated with increased complication rate. Global Spine J. 2019;9(2):179-184. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]15,Findlay MC, Kim RB, Warner WS, Sherrod BA, Park S, Mazur MD, et al. Identification of an operative time threshold for substantially increased postoperative complications among elderly spine surgery patients. Global Spine J. 2024;14(5):1532-1541. [FREE Full text] [CrossRef] [Medline]38]. Peng et al [Peng XQ, Sun CG, Fei ZG, Zhou QJ. Risk factors for surgical site infection after spinal surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis based on twenty-seven studies. World Neurosurg. 2019;123:e318-e329. [CrossRef] [Medline]39] conducted a meta-analysis on correlations between operative time and postoperative infection, and they concluded that there was a 4-fold increase in postoperative infection risk for operations greater than 3 hours [Peng XQ, Sun CG, Fei ZG, Zhou QJ. Risk factors for surgical site infection after spinal surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis based on twenty-seven studies. World Neurosurg. 2019;123:e318-e329. [CrossRef] [Medline]39]. The studies included in our review all found a lower mean operative time for same-day CF.
A shorter LOS is also desirable as it minimizes health care resource use and lowers costs [Stephens BF, Khan I, Chotai S, Sivaganesan A, Devin CJ. Drivers of cost in adult thoracolumbar spine deformity surgery. World Neurosurg. 2018;118:e206-e211. [CrossRef] [Medline]40]. Further, early mobilization and discharge are associated with improved patient satisfaction and reduced psychological stress [Smith G, Chirieleison S, Levin J, Atli K, Winkelman R, Tanenbaum JE, et al. Impact of length of stay on HCAHPS scores following lumbar spine surgery. J Neurosurg Spine. 2019;31(3):366-371. [CrossRef] [Medline]41]. However, reducing LOS has also been associated with an increasing readmission rate at the population level [Ansari SF, Yan H, Zou J, Worth RM, Barbaro NM. Hospital length of stay and readmission rate for neurosurgical patients. Neurosurgery. 2018;82(2):173-181. [CrossRef] [Medline]42]. Our meta-analysis found a significantly lower LOS for same-day CF compared to staged CF. This difference in LOS may be attributed to the cumulative effect of multiple hospital admissions, prolonged recovery periods between surgeries, and the need for additional preoperative preparation in staged CF. While the lower operative time and LOS results in patients undergoing same-day CF seem intuitive, it is important to interpret them cautiously, considering potential factors such as patient selection, discharge criteria, and institutional practices that may differ between studies. Moreover, while shorter operative time and LOS may reduce health care costs and improve resource allocation, they should not compromise patient safety or postoperative care quality.
The results of shorter LOS and operative time combined with the lack of conclusive differences between groups for adverse events, readmission, reoperation, and infection rates indicate that patient prognosis is similar when between staging preferences. The shorter time spent in the hospital and operating room is clinically important and contributes to improved patient safety and outcomes while reducing hospital resource use. However, the potential advantages of staging may outweigh these benefits and thus improve patient prognosis for more complex cases with a higher degree of relative deformity. Therefore, the results from this review and meta-analysis show preference toward same-day CF, while staging may largely depend on a patient’s condition. Further studies investigating the impact of patient-specific factors, for example, varying degrees of deformity severity, on treatment selection and subsequent outcomes are required.
Limitations
There are several limitations to this study and the papers included in this review. First, the limited literature comparing staged and same-day CF resulted in only 7 studies being included, which reduced the statistical power of the meta-analysis as only 4 studies qualified for quantitative analysis. All the included studies are retrospective cohort studies with a level of evidence of III or II, and only 2 studies used inverse probability weighting to control for between-patient differences. Consequently, there was a moderate potential for bias, which limited our ability to reach generalizable conclusions. To elucidate the differences in surgical treatment options for CF, it will be necessary to investigate staging in level I or II randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Without RCTs, it is difficult to adjust for surgeon preference bias and the complexity of the case. Each study also demonstrated heterogeneity with respect to the patient outcomes reported, further limiting the ability for robust statistical analysis. Continuous variables were generally poorly reported since many did not report measures of variance such as mean and SD, but rather mean or median and range (min-max or IQR). This made pooling in those instances not feasible, limiting the generalizability of results. Further, only 1 group presented patient-reported outcomes, such as ODI, which is a standardized clinical variable that can be useful for measuring subjective pain and disability. Novel studies should aim to investigate patient-reported outcomes and standardize the variables being reported, so future meta-analyses will have wider samples to yield more conclusive evidence for staging differences in CF. In doing so, the mixed results presented in this study can be further assessed to support wider implementation of either staged or same-day CF while integrating clinically significant metrics to evaluate patient outcomes.
Conclusions
Here, we present the first systematic review and quantitative meta-analysis on staging in CF to treat patients with ASD. Operative time and hospital LOS were significantly lower in same-day CF surgery, with EBL and perioperative adverse events also trending toward significance. However, there was heterogeneity in additional operative measures, such as intra- or postoperative adverse event rates, reoperation, and readmission, and no differences were found in our meta-analysis. Based on our results, it is suggested that same-day CF is advantageous as a potential time-save with patients spending less time in the operating room and hospital, potentially saving costs. However, it is still unclear whether either same-day or staged CF provides a clinical advantage for patient outcomes. Additional level I and II RCTs should be conducted to elucidate the associations between these variables and provide stronger evidence in favor of either approach.
Acknowledgments
This work was partially supported by the Catherine Sharpe Foundation.
Data Availability
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published paper.
Authors' Contributions
WCW is the guarantor of the study. MMD and WCW led the conceptualization, data acquisition, analysis, and drafting and revision of the manuscript. RWT, JG, GS, DC, HSA, CAW, TG, JDA, JLG, and BJG contributed to data acquisition, analysis, and drafting. Independent review was performed by FCO, ME, and MMD. All authors contributed to the analysis, interpretation, and drafting. JHS, JWY, AKO, and WCW contributed critical guidance at all stages of the study. The manuscript was reviewed and edited, and its final version was approved by all authors.
Conflicts of Interest
In the past 36 months, AKO has received consulting fees from Medacta and Johnson and Johnson and has served as an E2M ad hoc reviewer for the Journal of Neurosurgery Publishing Group (JNS PG), with no relation to this work. Additionally, within the same period, JWY has received a grant from Johnson and Johnson; consulting fees from Medyssey, TrackX, Richard Wolf, and Johnson and Johnson; holds patents planned, issued, or pending with Kinesiometrics and MedCyclops; and has served in a leadership role on the Scientific Program Committee of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS)/Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) Joint Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves, with no relation to this work. All other authors report no conflict of interest.
Multimedia Appendix 1
PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) checklist.
PDF File (Adobe PDF File), 86 KBReferences
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Abbreviations
ASD: adult spinal deformity |
CF: circumferential spinal fusion |
EBL: estimated blood loss |
ICU: intensive care unit |
LOS: length of stay |
ODI: Oswestry Disability Index |
PICO: Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome |
PRISMA: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses |
PRISMA-P: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols |
RCT: randomized controlled trial |
Edited by T de Azevedo Cardoso; submitted 07.10.24; peer-reviewed by J Shen; comments to author 05.11.24; revised version received 31.12.24; accepted 07.01.25; published 06.03.25.
Copyright©Mert Marcel Dagli, Ryan William Turlip, Felix C Oettl, Mohamed Emara, Jaskeerat Gujral, Daksh Chauhan, Hasan S Ahmad, Gabrielle Santangelo, Connor Wathen, Yohannes Ghenbot, John D Arena, Joshua L Golubovsky, Ben J Gu, John H Shin, Jang Won Yoon, Ali K Ozturk, William C Welch. Originally published in the Interactive Journal of Medical Research (https://www.i-jmr.org/), 06.03.2025.
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