Investigating the Relationship Between Estrogen Replacement Therapy and Postoperative Complications Following Single-Level Lumbar Fusion: A Propensity Matched Analysis
Kyle B. Stump, Alec M. Giakas, Gregorio Baek, Mitchell K. Ng, Andrew P. Alvarez, Alan S. Hilibrand, Alexander R. Vaccaro, Gregory D. Schroeder, Christopher K. Kepler · 2026
Read Investigating the Relationship Between Estrogen Replacement Therapy and Postoperative Complications Following Single-Level Lumbar Fusion: A Propensity Matched Analysis by Kyle B. Stump, Alec M. Giakas, Gregorio Baek, Mitchell K. Ng, Andrew P. Alvarez, Alan S. Hilibrand, Alexander R. Vaccaro, Gregory D. Schroeder, Christopher K. Kepler (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/pmc-13646187.txt.
Description
Kyle Stump and co-authors asked whether women on estrogen replacement therapy fare worse after single-level spinal fusion, in a 2026 study. Using a large research network's records, the team matched 1,570 pairs of menopausal patients aged fifty and over. One group was prescribed estrogen in the year before surgery and one was not. Pairs were balanced on demographics and other illnesses.
The estrogen group suffered more than double the rate of pulmonary embolism, a dangerous lung clot, in the ninety days after surgery. Their fusions also failed to knit more often, with non-union rates higher at both one and two years, though reoperation rates matched. Emergency department visits after surgery were more frequent too. The authors caution that estrogen users may simply be a higher-risk group rather than harmed by the hormone itself. They call for studies of mechanism and causality before surgical guidance changes.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Kyle B. Stump, Alec M. Giakas, Gregorio Baek, Mitchell K. Ng, Andrew P. Alvarez, Alan S. Hilibrand, Alexander R. Vaccaro, Gregory D. Schroeder, Christopher K. Kepler |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 33 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |