Comparison of the Economic Outcomes of Neuroaxial and General Anesthesia for Lumbar Spine Operations: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

 Lumbar spine operations can be safely performed under general or neuroaxial anesthesia, but there are controversies as to the clinical outcomes and cost benefits of each method. The goal of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to determine the advantages of each technique (i.e., regional or general anesthesia) for lumbar spine surgery with regards to cost, duration of surgery, duration of post anesthesia care unit, and duration of hospital stay.
Data Sources: We conducted a systematic search for articles comparing regional anesthesia (RA) versus general anesthesia (GA) for lumbar spine surgery using three major databases (i.e., PubMed, EMBASE, and Google Scholar), without limitation for date and language of publication. We also manually double checked the references of all the related articles to detect missed articles by electronic searching. The last search was performed before September 2018; the quality of the included articles was assessed by different checklists according to the type of the article. STATA software (V. 10) was used for performing meta-analysis.

Twenty-eight articles were included in this meta-analysis. Cost data were presented in seven studies and reported a significant decrease in the cost of treatment in RA patients compared with GA patients. The standard mean difference (SMD) (95% CI) for cost was 1.64 (1.53 to 1.75); z = 29.17; P < 0.001; I2 = 98.9. Surgical time data were presented in 25 studies, which reported significant reduction in the surgery time in RA patients compared with GA patients, the SMD (95% CI) for surgery time was 0.77 (0.71 to -0.84); z = 23.9; P < 0.001; I2 = 97.9. Post anesthesia care unit (PACU) stay data were presented in 16 studies and reported significant increase in PACU stay in RA patients compared with GA patients. The SMD (95% CI) for PACU stay time was -0.4 (-0.49 to -0.31); z = 8.65; P < 0.001; I2 = 99.2. Hospital stay data were presented in 18 studies and reported significant decrease in hospital stay time in RA patients compared with GA patients. The SMD (95% CI) for hospital stay time was 0.76 (0.68 to 0.84); z = 18.81.; P < 0.001; I2 = 98.3. Egger and Begg’s tests showed no significant publication bias.

This comprehensive systematic review showed that RA has several advantages over GA with respect to cost, surgery time, and duration of hospital stay in patients undergoing lumbar spine surgery, while increase in PACU stay time was observed in RA patients.