Thirty-day unplanned reoperations of thoracic spine surgery: 10 years of data from a single center with 3242 patients

•The incidence of 30-day unplanned reoperations in 3242 patients with thoracic spine disease was 3.30% based on a single center from 2012 to 2021.•The chief causes for reoperation within 30 days after thoracic spine surgery included epidural hematoma, wound complications, implant complications, and inadequate decompression.•Upper thoracic spine surgery, concomitant dekyphosis, underlying coagulation disorder, longer operation time, higher ASA grade and pathological diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis led to an increased risk of 30-day unplanned reoperation after primary surgery for a specific thoracic spine disease. Unplanned reoperation is a useful quality indicator for spine surgery. However, the rates of a 30-day unplanned reoperation in patients undergoing thoracic spinal surgery are not well established. To assess the rates, reasons, and risk factors of 30-day unplanned reoperations for thoracic spine surgeries in a single center study. A retrospective observational study. A total of 3242 patients who underwent thoracic spinal surgery at our institution in the past decade were included. The incidence, chief reasons, and risk factors for unplanned reoperations within 30 days after thoracic spinal surgery. We retrospectively analyzed the data of all patients who underwent thoracic spinal surgery between January 2012 and December 2021. Statistical methods, including univariate and multivariate analyses, were performed to assess the incidence, reasons, and risk factors for thoracic degenerative diseases, spinal tumors, kyphosis deformity, and spinal trauma. Of the 3242 patients who underwent thoracic spinal surgery, 107 (3.30%) required unplanned reoperations within 30 days due to epidural hematoma (1.17%), wound complications (0.80%), implant complications (0.43%), inadequate decompression (0.25%), and other causes (0.65%). Patients with degenerative disease (3.88%), spinal tumor (2.98%), and kyphosis deformity (3.33%) had significantly higher incidences of reoperation than those with spinal trauma (1.47%). Unplanned reoperations were classified as hyperacute (30.84%), acute (31.76%), and subacute (37.38%). After univariate analysis, several factors were associated with unplanned reoperation in the 4 cohorts of thoracic spine diseases (p