ArticleGlobal spine journal2021
The Cost-Effectiveness of Vancomycin Powder in Lumbar Laminectomy.
Article in Global spine journal, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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
4 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparison of postoperative infection risk with and without topical vancomycin in adult posterior spinal fusion: a propensity-matched cohort study of 126,910 patients.Spine deformity · 2026Article
- Use of intraoperative vancomycin powder and its effects on the incidence of surgical site infection in orthopaedic trauma: a systematic review with meta-analysis.OTA international : the open access journal of orthopaedic trauma · 2026Article
- Intra-wound vancomycin powder is cost-saving in primary total hip and knee arthroplasty.International orthopaedics · 2025Article
- Use of topical vancomycin powder in total joint arthroplasty: Why the current literature is inconsistent?World journal of orthopedics · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
STUDY
designBreak-even cost analysis.
objectiveThe goal of this study is to examine the cost-effectiveness of vancomycin powder for preventing infection following lumbar laminectomy.
methodsThe product cost of vancomycin powder was obtained from our institution's purchasing records. Infection rates and revision costs for lumbar laminectomy and lumbar laminectomy with fusion were obtained from the literature. A break-even analysis was then performed to determine the absolute risk reduction (ARR) in infection rate to make prophylactic application of vancomycin powder cost-effective. Analysis of lumbar laminectomy with fusion was performed for comparison.
resultsCosting $3.06 per gram at our institution, vancomycin powder was determined to be cost-effective in lumbar laminectomy if the infection rate of 4.2% decreased by an ARR of 0.015%. Laminectomy with fusion was also determined to be cost-effective at the same cost of vancomycin powder if the infection rate of 8.5% decreased by an ARR of 0.0034%. The current highest cost reported in the literature, $44.00 per gram of vancomycin powder, remained cost-effective with ARRs of 0.21% and 0.048% for laminectomy and laminectomy with fusion, respectively. Varying the baseline infection rate did not influence the ARR for either procedure when the analysis was performed using the product cost of vancomycin at our institution.
conclusionsThis break-even analysis demonstrates that prophylactic vancomycin powder can be highly cost-effective for lumbar laminectomy. At our institution, vancomycin powder is economically justified if it prevents at least one infection out of 6700 lumbar laminectomy surgeries.
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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.