Background:

Although serum albumin levels are increasingly used as an indicator of nutritional status in the clinic, the relationship between perioperative hypoalbuminemia and wound complications after posterior lumbar interbody fusion in the treatment of lumbar degenerative disease remains ambiguous. The aim of this study was to evaluate perioperative serum albumin in relation to postoperative wound complications after posterior lumbar interbody fusion in the treatment of single-segment lumbar degenerative disease.

Material and methods:

We reviewed patients who underwent single-segment posterior lumbar interbody fusion surgery from December 2014 to April 2017 in the Department of Orthopedics at the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University. Perioperative (preoperative and early postoperative) serum albumin levels were assessed in all patients and were used to quantify nutritional status. We divided the patients into a surgical wound dehiscence (SWD) group and a normal wound healing group and into a surgical site infection (SSI) group and a non-SSI group. To evaluate the relationship between perioperative serum albumin level and postoperative wound complications, we conducted univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses.

Results:

A total of 554 patients were enrolled in the study. The univariate and multiple logistic regression analysis of these differences showed that preoperative serum albumin < 3.5 g/dl (P = 0.001) and postoperative serum albumin < 3.0 g/dl (P = 0.001) were significantly correlated to SWD. There were also significant differences between the SSI groups in terms of preoperative serum albumin < 3.5 g/dl (P = 0.001) and chronic steroid use (P = 0.003). Additionally, the increased hospitalization costs (P < 0.001) and length of hospitalization (P < 0.001) were statistically significant for patients with perioperative hypoalbuminemia.

Conclusions:

For patients who underwent single-segment posterior lumbar interbody fusion surgery, we need to pay more attention to perioperative hypoalbuminemia and chronic steroid use, which are more likely to be associated with increased wound complications, hospitalization costs, and length of hospitalization after surgery. Adequate assessment and management of these risk factors will help reduce wound complications and hospital stays for surgical patients and will save medical costs.