Got Iron? Why Your Lumbar Fusion Patients Might Thank You Later

If you needed another reason to check pre-op labs beyond the obligatory hemoglobin squint, here it is: iron deficiency anemia (IDA) may be quietly sabotaging your lumbar fusion patients — and the fix might be as simple as giving them a little iron boost before you fire up the bone graft.

One research team dove into a massive all-payer claims database (think the Netflix of patient data, but with fewer plot twists) to explore what happens when IDA meets lumbar fusion. Spoiler alert: it’s not a feel-good rom-com.