{"id":"311f0b1d-54df-4d22-9a63-09026ac87648","slug":"can-anterior-cervical-diskectomy-fusion-acdf-be-safely-performed-in-ambulatory-surgical-centers-ascs","title":"Can anterior cervical diskectomy/fusion (ACDF) be safely performed in ambulatory surgical centers (ASC’s)?","authors":["Nancy E. Epstein"],"abstract":"Background: Can anterior cervical diskectomy/fusion (ACDF) be safely performed in ambulatory surgical centers (ASC’s: i.e. discharges 4-7.5 hr. postoperatively) that meet the following stringent “exclusion criteria”; elevated Body Mass Index (BMI), major comorbidities, age > 65, American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) scores > II, and largely multilevel ACDF. Materials: Presently, most ACDF are still being performed in hospital-based outpatient surgical centers (HBSC: utilizing 23-hour stays), or as inpatients. Results: Notably, unreliable disparate study designs involving very different patient populations resulted in nearly comparable, but implausible outcomes for 1-level vs. multilevel ACDF series performed in ASC. A summary of these outcome data included the following rates of; i.e. postoperative hospital transfers (0-6%), 30-day (up to 2.2%), and up to 90 day (2.2%) emergency department (ED) visits, readmissions, and reoperations. Conclusion: Nevertheless, it is just common sense that “less should be less”, that 1-level ACDF should involve less risk compared with multilevel ACDF procedures performed in ASC.","thumbnailUrl":"https://sni-digital-videos.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/311f0b1d-54df-4d22-9a63-09026ac87648/featured/hero-cropped-1781560403213.jpg","publishDate":"2023-03-31T00:00:00.000Z","doi":"10.25259/SNI_175_2023","categories":["Spine","Editorial"],"fullTextUrl":"https://surgicalneurologyint.com/api/articles/311f0b1d-54df-4d22-9a63-09026ac87648/pdf"}