When to remove? Evaluation of postoperative drainage volume after single-level posterior lumbar interbody fusion

Philipp Egenolf; Maximilian Lenz; Klaus John Schnake; Arne Harland; Stavros Oikonomidis; Peer Eysel; Max Joseph Scheyerer

doi:10.1016/j.jor.2023.01.008

When to remove? Evaluation of postoperative drainage volume after single-level posterior lumbar interbody fusion

J Orthop. 2023 Jan 23:37:1-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jor.2023.01.008. eCollection 2023 Mar.

Authors

Philipp Egenolf¹, Maximilian Lenz¹, Klaus John Schnake^{2

3}, Arne Harland¹, Stavros Oikonomidis¹, Peer Eysel¹, Max Joseph Scheyerer¹

Affiliations

¹ University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Department for Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery, Cologne, Germany.
² Center of Spinal and Scoliosis Surgery, Malteser Waldkrankenhaus St. Marien, Erlangen, Germany.
³ Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Paracelsus Private Medical University Nuernberg, Nuremberg, Germany.

Abstract

Study design: prospective, observational.

Background: Wound drainage's indwelling duration and general use are the centre of ongoing discussion. The aim of our prospective observational study was to evaluate the total drainage volume postoperatively and its course after lumbar interbody fusion surgeries to define an ideal point in time for drainage removal.

Methods: We included all patients who underwent monosegmental lumbar interbody fusion via transforaminal or posterior lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF/PLIF). After application of the exclusion criteria, 27 patients were included in our study. Drainage volume was measured three times a day and at the time of drain removal.

Results: The PLIF group reached higher total drainage volume (337.14 ml) than the TLIF group (215.5 ml) (p = 0.047. Drainage volume's plateau was reached after 33.0 h (±1.8 h) in the TLIF group and 25.3 h (±1.7 h) in the PLIF group following surgery.

Conclusions: Our study shows, that drainage volume did not increase significantly after the evening of the first postoperative day at latest. This was on average 33.0 h after surgery. Therefore, extraction of the drainage tube hereafter can be assumed to be safe.

Keywords: Drainage; Spinal epidural hematoma; Spinal fusion.