Outpatient anterior cervical discectomy and fusion.

The study reported here examined patient safety and satisfaction in 56 patients with cervical radiculopathy secondary to foraminal stenosis or a herniated disc who underwent a total of 58 outpatient anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) procedures with iliac crest bone graft or fibular allograft. Patients were discharged 0.8 hour to 6.5 hours (mean, 2.4 hours) after surgery and received 3 home health care visits over 24 hours. Of the 45 satisfaction questionnaires that were completed, 43 (95.6%) indicated patients were satisfied or very satisfied with the surgery, and 35 (77.8%) indicated patients would have the procedure performed on an outpatient basis again. Eleven (19.6%) of the 56 patients did not respond to a satisfaction questionnaire. Outpatient ACDF has high patient satisfaction but does not compromise patient safety.