Full-endoscopic spinal decompression or discectomy show benefits regarding 30-day readmission rates when compared to other spine surgery techniques: a propensity score matched analysis.

Background and context: Unplanned readmission within 30 days following elective spine surgery is a key indicator of quality of care, as readmissions often signal early complications or poor recovery. The Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) utilizes this metric to assess hospital and surgeon performance.

Purpose: Here we aim to delineate quality of care metrics for full-endoscopic spine surgery (FESS) compared to traditional spine surgery.

Design: The study was a retrospective multicenter analysis comparing outcomes of propensity matched cohorts.

Patient sample: The study included 908 FESS patients operated between 2014 and 2023 and a matched cohort of 73,906 non-FESS patients.

Outcome measures: Our primary outcome measures were postoperative 30-day hospital readmissions and revision surgery. Furthermore, demographic data, hospitalization, surgical details and comorbidities were included.

Methods: Data were collected from 6 participating institutions. Patients older than 18 years undergoing noninstrumented FESS spine surgeries for degenerative lumbar spinal pathologies from 2016 to 2023 were included. A matched non-FESS cohort was identified in the ACS-NSQIP database (2015-2019). Propensity-score matching was used to compare the cohorts.

Results: Before matching, the 30-day readmission rate was significantly lower in the FESS cohort (1.1% vs. 4.4%, p <.001), which remained consistent after matching (1.1% vs. 4.5%, p<.001). The rate of 30-day surgical revisions was similar between cohorts (1.0% vs. 1.1%, p=.63). Multivariate analysis indicated a significant correlation between FESS and reduced 30-day readmissions (odds ratio [OR] 0.28, 95% CI 0.14-0.57, p<.001).

Conclusion: This study is the first to compare 30-day hospital readmissions between FESS and nonendoscopic surgeries in a large, matched multicenter cohort. FESS significantly reduces both the length of postoperative hospital stay and 30-day readmission rates compared to nonendoscopic approaches, underscoring the safety and effectiveness of outpatient FESS. Future studies are needed to define the role of FESS in more complex spine procedures.