To investigate the effect of perioperative erythropoietin (EPO) combined with sucrose iron in elderly patients with lumbar spinal stenosis.

One hundred elderly patients with multi-level lumbar spinal stenosis treated by posterior lumbar surgery admitted to Ningbo No. 6 Hospital from November 2019 to April 2021 were selected. Among them, 50 patients were treated with routine treatment during perioperative period (control group), and the other 50 patients were treated with recombinant human EPO combined with sucrose iron during perioperative period (observation group). The surgical situation, visual analogue score (VAS), Oswestry disability index (ODI) and Japanese orthopaedic association (JOA) of lumbar pain before and 3 days, 1 week and 1 month after operation were compared between the two groups. T test and repeated measurement analysis of variance were used for comparison of measurement data, and χ² test was used for comparison of counting data.

Compared with the control group, the observation group showed an increase in postoperative minimum Hb and minimum hematocrit, a decrease in blood transfusion volume, an earlier postoperative time to the ground, a shorter hospital stay, and a decrease in blood transfusion rate (t=9.276, 8.564, 13.673, 6.387, 9.563, χ²=5.398; P < 0.05). The VAS, JOA, and ODI of the two groups improved significantly after surgery, but there was no intergroup effect (F=0.621, 1.113, 0.564; P > 0.05).

For elderly patients with LSS, perioperative EPO combined with iron sucrose can effectively improve anemia, reduce blood transfusion rate, shorten hospital stay and promote early rehabilitation.