OBJECTIVES: Flowable hemostatic agents are absorbable gelatin-thrombin matrices indicated in surgical procedures as an adjunct to hemostasis when control of bleeding by ligature or other conventional methods is ineffective or impractical. Prior literature demonstrated similar efficacy with regard to control of bleeding between the most widely-used agents, SURGIFLO® Hemostatic Matrix and FLOSEAL Hemostatic Matrix, via direct and indirect comparisons. The objective of this retrospective patient chart review was to assess the economic burden in Germany by collecting hospital resource utilisation data among patients who underwent spine surgery (osteosynthesis with / without spondylodesis) using SURGIFLO^® with Thrombin (SFwT) or FLOSEAL (FS).

METHODS: Eligible physicians were selected from healthcare panels. They included patients with osteosynthesis with implementation of a screw-rod system based on medical files and surgical reports. Analyses were performed on Full Analysis Set (FAS) and Non-Outlier Set (NOS). Outliers were defined as patients >3 standard deviations from FAS means. Statistical significances were calculated using Student’s T-test and chi-quadrat-test. To assess economic burden, a linear model including treatment group, age, gender, and number of vertebrae fused was applied.

RESULTS: