Martin BI, et al. - Data were studied by researchers to examine the patterns in lumbar fusion procedure rates and correlated hospital costs for degenerative spinal diseases in the US from 2004 to 2015. They observed an increase in volume of elective lumbar fusion from 122,679 cases (60.4 per 100,000) in 2004 to 199,140 (79.8 per 100,000) in 2015. They also found an increment in the rate of elective lumbar fusion surgery for spondylolisthesis and scoliosis. They noticed an incline in aggregate hospital costs to about 177% during the 12 year period, exceeding $10 billion in 2015, and averaging more than $50,000 per admission.