Non-Tobacco Nicotine Is Associated With Increased Complications Following Posterior Cervical Fusion: A Retrospective Cohort Study
Alec M. Giakas, William A. Green, Anthony Castro, Eric Tecce, Mitchell K. Ng, Molly Milano, Yulia Lee, Gregorio Baek, Jonathan Dalton, Grant Thomas, Jarod Olson, Joshua Mathew, Yasmine Eichbaum, Morgan Hitchner, Thomas D. Cha, Alan Hilibrand, Alexander R. Vaccaro, Christopher Kepler, Gregory Schroeder · 2026
Read Non-Tobacco Nicotine Is Associated With Increased Complications Following Posterior Cervical Fusion: A Retrospective Cohort Study by Alec M. Giakas, William A. Green, Anthony Castro, Eric Tecce, Mitchell K. Ng, Molly Milano, Yulia Lee, Gregorio Baek, Jonathan Dalton, Grant Thomas, Jarod Olson, Joshua Mathew, Yasmine Eichbaum, Morgan Hitchner, Thomas D. Cha, Alan Hilibrand, Alexander R. Vaccaro, Christopher Kepler, Gregory Schroeder (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13275505.txt.
Description
Alec M Giakas and a large team report a 2026 retrospective cohort study on whether nicotine from vapes and pouches, not cigarettes, harms neck fusion surgery outcomes. Using a national database of patients who had posterior cervical fusion from 2012 to 2025, they matched non-tobacco nicotine users against tobacco users and non-users. In total, 7,102 patients were included.
At three years, non-tobacco nicotine users had more failed fusions, called pseudarthrosis, at 2.51 percent versus 1.84 percent in controls. They also suffered more most other complications, though not deep vein clots. Against tobacco users their profile was broadly similar, with more cervical fractures and early pneumonia, but less opioid misuse and fewer readmissions. The authors urge counseling patients that non-tobacco nicotine is not risk-free.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Alec M. Giakas, William A. Green, Anthony Castro, Eric Tecce, Mitchell K. Ng, Molly Milano, Yulia Lee, Gregorio Baek, Jonathan Dalton, Grant Thomas, Jarod Olson, Joshua Mathew, Yasmine Eichbaum, Morgan Hitchner, Thomas D. Cha, Alan Hilibrand, Alexander R. Vaccaro, Christopher Kepler, Gregory Schroeder |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 43961 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |