P24. Dysphagia and Odynophagia following zero profile ACDF: Incidence, severity and resolution

BACKGROUND CONTEXT Stand-alone or zero-profile devices for anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) have become popular in the management of degenerative cervical pathology in order to mitigate some of the complications associated with anterior cervical plating. PURPOSE To determine the incidence, severity and resolution of dysphagia and odynophagia following zero-profile ACDF. STUDY DESIGN/SETTING Retrospective cohort study of prospectively collected data. PATIENT SAMPLE Patients who had undergone zero-profile ACDF between 2017-2020. OUTCOME MEASURES Patient-reported Outcome Measure (PROMs) - Patient reported responses on the Dysphagia, Odynophagia and Voice (DOV) Questionnaire. In particular, the “Swallowing” and “Pain with Swallowing” components of the DOV Questionnaire were used for this study. METHODS Patients completed the DOV Questionnaire preoperatively and postoperatively (2 weeks, 6 weeks, 12 weeks, 6 months, 1 year and 2 years). Patients selected one of five answer choices (0-4) for dysphagia and one of four choices (0-3) for odynophagia, with zero indicating no symptoms and higher point values indicating worse symptomatology. Scores of 1, 2, 3, and 4 were graded as mild, moderate, severe, and very-severe, respectively. RESULTS Forty-eight patients, with a mean age of 58.46 ± 9.74 years, mean BMI of 27.38 ± 4.76 kg/m^2 and comprised of 31 males (64.6%) and 17 females (35.4%) were included. There were 17 single-level (35.4%), 24 two-level (50.0%) and 7 three-level (14.6%) surgeries. Nine (18.8%) patients reported dysphagia preoperatively, all of whom had symptom resolution. Ten (20.8%) patients reported dysphagia at 2 weeks postoperatively, which was mild in all patients. Of these, 5 had resolution during follow-up, with a majority reporting resolution by 6 weeks. Of the 5 patients that did not report resolution, 4 did not have follow-up data available beyond 6 weeks, and 1 reported persistent dysphagia at 2 years. Seven (16.7%) patients reported new-onset dysphagia at 6 weeks, which was mild in all patients. Of these, 5 had resolution, with a majority reporting resolution by 12 weeks. Of the 2 patients that did not report resolution, 1 patient did not have long-term follow-up available, and 1 reported persistent dysphagia at 1 year. Six (12.5%) patients reported odynophagia preoperatively, all of whom had complete symptom resolution. Eleven (22.9%) patients reported odynophagia at 2 weeks postoperatively, which was mild in all patients. Of these, 8 had resolution during the available follow-up, with a majority reporting resolution by 12 weeks. The 3 patients that did not report resolution did not have long-term follow-up data available. In addition, 5 (10.4%) patients reported new-onset, odynophagia after 2 weeks postoperatively, which was mild in all patients. Of these 5 patients, 4 reported resolution while 1 reported persistent symptoms at 1 year. Further, 6/48 (12.5%) patients reported only dysphagia, 4/48 (8.3%) patients reported only odynophagia, and 11/48 (22.9%) patients reported both dysphagia and odynophagia. CONCLUSIONS All cases of postoperative dysphagia and odynophagia were mild and a majority resolved by 6-12 weeks postoperatively. Only 2 (4.2%) patients reported persistent dysphagia and only 1 (2.1%) patient reported persistent odynophagia at or after 1 year postoperatively, which was mild in all cases. FDA DEVICE/DRUG STATUS Stand-alone ACDF cage (Approved for this indication).