Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37226385›Full record

ArticleAsian spine journal2023

Clinical Outcomes and Cost Profiles for Cage and Allograft Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion Procedures in the Adult Population: A Propensity Score-Matched Study.

Adrian John Rodrigues, Kunal Varshneya, Martin Nikolaus Stienen, Ethan Schonfeld, Khoi Duc Than, Anand Veeravagu

Open access · diamondAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Asian spine journal, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
0.3field-weighted citation impact, top 41% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Single-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion for degenerative disc disease: a retrospective, two-center comparative analysis of stand-alone cage versus cage-plate constructs.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 · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Adrian John RodriguesNeurosurgery AI Lab & Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
Kunal VarshneyaNeurosurgery AI Lab & Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
Martin Nikolaus StienenDepartment of Neurosurgery & Spine Center of Eastern Switzerland, Kantonsspital St. Gallen & Medical School of St.Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Ethan SchonfeldNeurosurgery AI Lab & Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
Khoi Duc ThanDepartment of Neurosurgery, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Anand VeeravaguNeurosurgery AI Lab & Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

STUDY

designRetrospective cohort study. PURPOSE: To characterize the postoperative outcomes and economic costs of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) procedures using synthetic biomechanical intervertebral cage (BC) and structural allograft (SA) implants. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE: ACDF is a common spine procedure that typically uses an SA or BC for the cervical fusion. Previous studies that compared the outcomes between the two implants were limited by small sample sizes, short-term postoperative outcomes, and procedures with single-level fusion.

methodsAdult patients who underwent an ACDF procedure in 2007-2016 were included. Patient records were extracted from MarketScan, a national registry that captures person-specific clinical utilization, expenditures, and enrollments across millions of inpatient, outpatient, and prescription drug services. Propensity-score matching (PSM) was employed to match the patient cohorts across demographic characteristics, comorbidities, and treatments.

resultsOf 110,911 patients, 65,151 (58.7%) received BC implants while 45,760 (41.3%) received SA implants. Patients who underwent BC surgeries had slightly higher reoperation rates within 1 year after the index ACDF procedure (3.3% vs. 3.0%, p=0.004), higher postoperative complication rates (4.9% vs. 4.6%, p=0.022), and higher 90-day readmission rates (4.9% vs. 4.4%, p =0.001). After PSM, the postoperative complication rates did not vary between the two cohorts (4.8% vs. 4.6%, p=0.369), although dysphagia (2.2% vs. 1.8%, p<0.001) and infection (0.3% vs. 0.2%, p=0.007) rates remained higher for the BC group. Other outcome differences, including readmission and reoperation, decreased. Physician's fees remained high for BC implantation procedures.

conclusionsWe found marginal differences in clinical outcomes between BC and SA ACDF interventions in the largest published database cohort of adult ACDF surgeries. After adjusting for group-level differences in comorbidity burden and demographic characteristics, BC and SA ACDF surgeries showed similar clinical outcomes. Physician's fees, however, were higher for BC implantation procedures.

Indexed as

AllograftAssessment, Patient outcomesPropensity scoreSpine

Identifiers

PMID37226385
PMCPMC10460669
OpenAlexW4378173086

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

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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.