Pathway for Enhanced Recovery after Spinal Surgery-A Systematic Review of Evidence for use of Individual Components

Background Enhanced recovery in spinal surgery (ERSS) has shown promising improvements in clinical and economical outcomes. We have proposed an ERSS pathway based on societal recommendations and qualitative reviews. We aimed to delineate the clinical efficacy of individual pathway components in ERSS through a systematic narrative review. Methods We included systematic reviews and meta-analysis, randomized controlled trials, non-randomized controlled studies, and observational studies in adults and pediatric patients evaluating any one of the 22 pre-defined care components. Our primary outcomes included all-cause mortality, morbidity outcomes (e.g., pulmonary, cardiac, renal, surgical complications), patient-reported outcomes and experiences (e.g., pain, quality of care experience), and health services outcomes (e.g., length of stay and costs). We searched the following databases (1990 onwards) MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and CENTRAL). Two reviewers independently screened all citations, full-text articles, and abstracted data. A narrative synthesis was provided. Where applicable, we constructed Evidence Profile (EP) tables for each individual element. Due to clinical and methodological heterogeneity, we did not conduct a meta-analyses. Confidence in cumulative evidence for each component of the pathway was classified according to the GRADE system. Results We identified 5423 relevant studies excluding duplicates as relating to the 22 pre-defined components of enhanced recovery in spinal surgery. We included 664 studies in the systematic review. We found specific evidence within the context of spinal surgery for 14/22 proposed components. Evidence was summarized in EP tables for 12/22 components. We performed thematic synthesis without EP for 6/22 elements. We identified appropriate societal guidelines for the remainder of the components. Discussion We identified the following components with high quality of evidence as per GRADE system: pre-emptive analgesia, peri-operative blood conservation (antifibrinolytic use), surgical site preparation and antibiotic prophylaxis. There was moderate level of evidence for implementation of prehabilitation, minimally invasive surgery, multimodal perioperative analgesia, intravenous lignocaine and ketamine use as well as early mobilization. This review allows for the first formalized evidence-based unified protocol in the field of ERSS. Further studies validating the multimodal ERSS framework are essential to guide the future evolution of care in patients undergoing spinal surgery.