ArticleJournal of spine surgery (Hong Kong)2018
Post-operative drain use in patients undergoing decompression and fusion: incidence of complications and symptomatic hematoma.
Article in Journal of spine surgery (Hong Kong), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Outcomes of post-operative drain use after cranioplasty surgery - a systematic review and meta-analysis.Acta neurochirurgica · 2026Pooled it
- The utility of surgical drains in adult and pediatric posterior spinal fusion: systematic review and meta-analysis.Neurosurgical review · 2024Pooled it
- Incidence and predictors of postoperative complications in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in health services · 2024Pooled it
- Closed-suction drainage in thoracolumbar spinal surgery-clinical routine without evidence? a systematic review.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2022Pooled it
- Risk-benefit analysis of wound drain usage in spine surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis with evidence summary.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2020Pooled it
- The impact of aging on locomotor recovery in preclinical models of traumatic spinal cord injury: a systematic review.Frontiers in neurologyPooled it
- Gravity-drain versus closed-suction subfascial drainage following lumbar decompression and fusion.Journal of spine surgery (Hong Kong) · 2026Article
- Delayed postoperative spinal epidural hematoma after one-hole split endoscope discectomy: a case report and literature review.Frontiers in surgery · 2026Article
- Is a wound drain needed routinely after anterior cervical discectomy and fusion?North American Spine Society journal · 2025Article
- Review
- Article
- Post-operative antibiotic prophylaxis in spine surgery patients with thoracolumbar drains: A meta analysis.World neurosurgery: X · 2024Article
- Effect of Drain Duration and Output on Perioperative Outcomes and Readmissions after Lumbar Spine Surgery.Asian spine journal · 2023Article
- When to remove? Evaluation of postoperative drainage volume after single-level posterior lumbar interbody fusion.Journal of orthopaedics · 2023Article
- Natural language processing for the automated detection of intra-operative elements in lumbar spine surgery.Frontiers in surgery · 2023Article
- Complications associated to wound drainages in tumor spine surgery: a multicenter surveillance study from the German Spine Registry (DWG-Register).Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Drains in Spine Surgery for Degenerative Disc Diseases: A Literature Review to Determine Its Usage.Cureus · 2022Review
- Drainage after posterior single-level instrumented lumbar fusion: Natural pressure vs negative pressure.Medicine · 2020Observational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSurgical drains are commonly used after spine surgery to minimize infection and hematoma formation. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of post-operative complications after spinal decompression and fusion with and without a subfascial drain.
methodsThe medical records of 139 adult (≥18 years old) spinal deformity patients undergoing elective spinal decompression and fusion at a major academic institution were reviewed. We identified 116 (83.5%) who had a post-operative drain and 23 (16.5%) who did not have a postoperative drain (No-Drain: n=23; Drain-Use: n=116). Patient demographics, comorbidities, intra- and post-operative complication rates were collected for each patient. The primary outcome investigated in this study was the rate of post-operative complications, specifically surgical site infections (SSI) and hematoma formation.
resultsPatient demographics and comorbidities were similar between both cohorts, with the body mass index (BMI) slightly higher in the Drain-Use cohort (No-Drain: 26.1 kg/m
conclusionsOur study suggests that the use of postoperative subfascial drains in patients undergoing spinal decompression with fusion may not be associated with a reduction in SSIs or hematoma formation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.