Team management in complex posterior spinal surgery allows blood loss limitation

Purpose The objective is to analyse peri-operative blood loss (BL) and hidden blood loss (HBL) rates in spinal deformity complex cases surgery, with a focus on the strategies to prevent major bleeding. Methods We retrospectively analysed surgical and anaesthesiologic data of patients who had been operated for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) or adult spinal deformities (ASD) with a minimum of five levels fused. A statistical comparison among AIS, ASD without a pedicle subtraction osteotomy (PSO) (ASD-PSO( −)) and ASD with PSO (ASD-PSO( +)) procedures was performed with a view to identifying patient- and/or surgical-related factors affecting peri-operative BL and HBL. Results One-hundred patients were included with a mean 9.9 ± 2.8 fused vertebrae and a mean 264.2 ± 68.3 minutes operative time (OT) (28.3 ± 9 min per level). The mean perioperative BL was 641.2 ± 313.8 ml (68.9 ± 39.5 ml per level) and the mean HBL was 556.6 ± 381.8 ml (60.6 ± 42.8 ml per level), with the latter accounting for 51.5% of the estimated blood loss (EBL). On multivariate regression analysis, a longer OT ( p