The incidences of perioperative complications in the elderly following minimally invasive lumbar transforaminal interbody fusion

Object: This study was conducted to survey the perioperative complications in a patient more than 70-year-old undergoing minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (miTLIF) and to examine if the incidence of complications differs from that of younger patients. Materials and Methods: A retrospective, comparative study was conducted. Patients who underwent miTLIF in our hospital between September 2007 and December 2010 were included and divided into two groups according to age: the elderly group (≥70) and the young group (<70). The perioperative complications of both groups were analyzed and compared. Results: A total of 185 consecutive patients were included. Of the 185 patients, 132 patients were <70 years and 53 patients were more than 70-year-old. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups regarding patient characteristics except for diagnosis. The incidences of comorbidity were similar as well. There were no significant differences between the young and the elderly groups regarding intraoperative (3.79% vs. 9.43%, P = 0.1527), major (0% vs. 3.77%, P = 0.08), minor (24.24% vs. 16.98%, P = 0.28), and total complications (27.27% vs. 28.30%, P = 0.8874). There was no mortality in both groups. Conclusion: Based on our results, the incidences of intraoperative and perioperative major complications in the elderly were higher than that in the young, but the differences did not reach statistical significance.