Shahid Ayub, Riaz-ur Rehman, Rizwan Ullah Khattak.
Incidence and Management Outcome of Incidental Durotomy in Spinal Procedures in Tertiary Care Hospital.
Pak J Neuro Surg Nov ;21(3):155-8.

Objective: To know the incidence and management outcome of incidental durotomy in spinal procedures in tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was carried out in Neurosurgery Department, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, from 1st July 2015 to 30 June 2017. All those patients in whom lumber spinal procedures were done were included in the study without age or gender discrimination. Exclusion criteria included patients in whom dura was intentionally opened as in cases of intradural tumors or in rare cases of transdural discectomies. Those patients were also excluded in whom procedure was done elsewhere and they were admitted in ward for management. All patients were reviewed by age, sex, indications of surgery and subsequent management of durotomy. Data was analyzed in SPSS version 10. Results: Total 560 patients qualified the selection criteria. There were 342 (61.07) male and 318 (38.93%) female patients. Amongst those operated, 294 (52.5%) patients had lumbar disc herniations, 143 (25.54%) patients were operated for lumbar spinal stenosis, 75 (13.39%) patients were treated for traumatic lumbar vertebral fractures, 38 (6.79%) patients had extradural spinal tumors and 10 were operated for lumbar spondylolisthesis. We noticed incidental durotomies in 50 (8.92%) cases. Of 342 male patients the incidence of durotomy was 20 (3.57%) while of 318 female patients the incidence was 30 (5.36%). All dural tears were recognized during the operation. Forty seven (47) dural tears were repaired primarily. We did re exploration in one patient for persistent leak in whom dural stitches were torn. Kerrisonrongeur was responsible for dural tear in 14. In 11 cases dissector tear the dura. Three dural tears were caused by pituatery rongeur. One tear was caused directly by knife. Air drill was responsible for 4 tears when lamina was being drilled to thin out. We could not find any cause of dural tear in one case. Conclusion: Unintentional duratomy is not an uncommon complication in neuro spinal procedures. This is more common female population and elderly patients with degenerative spinal diseases.

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