Ostene in Thoracolumbar Decompression and Fusion Evaluated With VIBE

Overview

In spine surgery, it is important to try to minimize bleeding. In particular, spine surgery often involves inserting hardware into bone, and/or removing bone in the spine. Because the bone in the spine contains blood vessels, there can often be bleeding from the bone itself that is difficult to stop completely. One way to stop bone bleeding is through the use of wax-like materials, which plug the bleeding bone and act as a physical barrier to stop bleeding. One example is Ostene bone hemostasis material, which has the advantage of being "water soluble", meaning it will dissolve naturally over time. The purpose of this study is to evaluate how well Ostene does at decreasing bleeding, by using a recognized scale called the validated intraoperative bleeding severity scale, abbreviated as "VIBe". In this study, the investigators will record the bleeding severity throughout multiple time points in surgery using this scale, and then the investigators will compare the measurements to patients in the past who did not receive Ostene. Overall, this research will help measure how well Ostene decreases bleeding.

* Patients will be screened prior to surgery for inclusion and exclusion criteria. * If eligible, patients will be approached in the preoperative area or clinic location to consent or refuse participation in the study. * Baseline characteristics will be collected via a combination of patient preoperative survey and manual chart review. * Patients will undergo the normal surgical standard of care, receiving Ostene intraoperatively as determined appropriate by the attending spine surgeon during the procedure. * It is anticipated that Ostene will be used specifically during the bony work/laminectomy phase preceding decompression. Of note, this material is now considered standard of care by our principal investigator and would be used regardless of study participation. * Other hemostatic agents will be used according to the typical standard of care. * A trained research coordinator will be present to determine VIBe scores during 6 key surgical phases: 1) exposure, 2) bony work/laminectomy, 3) decompression, 4) instrumentation, 5) fusion, and 6) closure. Agreement will be obtained from the operating surgeon. * For all phases, the maximum VIBe score during each phase will be recorded. * Surgical information will be documented from the operative note. * Patients will receive the normal standard of care postoperatively including measure(s) of their hemoglobin/hematocrit and postoperative drain output. * Data on postoperative outcomes/complications will be collected from the electronic medical record. * A propensity-score matched cohort analysis will be constructed to compare patients who received Ostene to patients who did not receive Ostene (will use data from past study conducted from 2021-April 2023 to construct matched control cohort). * There will be no group assignment in this study * There will be no placebo group or randomization * Patient data from a past study will be used as a control comparator