ArticleGlobal spine journal2022
Early Versus Late Spine Surgery in Severely Injured Patients-Which Is the Appropriate Timing for Surgery?
Article in Global spine journal, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Acute management of spinal fractures: What you need to know.The journal of trauma and acute care surgery · 2026Review
- Perioperative complications in spinal trauma patients: does timing matter?Acta neurochirurgica · 2025Article
- The Critical Management of Spinal Cord Injury: A Narrative Review.Clinics and practice · 2024Review
- Unstable Thoracolumbar Injuries: Factors Affecting the Decision for Short-Segment vs Long-Segment Posterior Fixation.International journal of spine surgery · 2022Article
- Letter to the Editor Regarding "Early Versus Late Spine Surgery in Severely Injured Patients-Which Is the Appropriate Timing for Surgery?" by Sousa et al.Global spine journal · 2021Article
- Severely Injured Patients Benefit From Spinal Surgery Within the First 72 Hours, Regardless of their Pre-Operative Neurological Status.Global spine journal · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
STUDY
designRetrospective cohort study conducted at tertiary spinal trauma referral center.
objectiveWe aimed to determine if early definitive management of spine fractures in patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) shortens the intubation time and the length of stay (LOS), without increasing mortality.
methodsThe medical records of all patients admitted to the ICU and submitted to surgical stabilization of spine fractures were reviewed over a 10-year period. Time to surgery, number of fractured vertebrae, degree of neurological injury, Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS II), ASA score and associated trauma were evaluated. Surgeries performed on the first 72 hours after trauma were defined as "early surgeries." Intubation time, LOS on ICU, overall LOS and mortality rate were compared between patients operated early and late.
resultsFifty patients were included, 21 with cervical fractures, 23 thoracic and 6 lumbar. Baseline characteristics did not differ between patients in both groups. Patients with early surgical stabilization had significantly shorter intubation time, ICU-LOS and overall LOS, with no differences in terms of mortality rate. After multivariate adjustments overall LOS was significantly shorter in patients operated earlier.
conclusionsEarly spinal stabilization (<72 hours) of severely injured patients is beneficial and shortens the intubation time, ICU-LOS and overall LOS, with no differences in terms of mortality rate. Although some patients may require a delay in treatment due to necessary medical stabilization, every reasonable effort should be made to treat patients with unstable spinal fractures as early as possible. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE OF THE STUDY: Level III.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.