Background: Spinal disorders can leads a significant impact on quality of life. The number of spinal surgeries has increased in recent years. As a tertiary referral center in South Kalimantan, Ulin General Hospital has an important role in understanding referral patterns for improving surgical services. However, data on spine surgery trends in developing countries remain limited. Evaluating the characteristics of elective spinal surgery is essential for understanding case distribution and for future service planning.

Methods: This is a retrospective study including all patients who underwent elective spine surgery at Ulin General Hospital, South Kalimantan, Indonesia. Data were obtained from medical records from January 2024 to January 2026. Data included age, sex, level of vertebral pathology, and type of procedure.

Results: During the study period, a total of 352 patients were studied, with the trend of an increasing number of surgeries. The mean patient age was 47.2 years, with sex distribution (50.9% female, 49.1% male). The lumbar spine was the most common site (57.7%), followed by thoracic (15.6%), lumbosacral (14.8%), cervical (6.5%), thoracolumbar (3.4%), and sacral (1.1%). Degenerative disorders were the most common cases (53.7%), followed by trauma (16.2%), infection (15.9%), tumors (7.4%), and deformities (6.8%).

Conclusion: There has been an increase in the number of surgeries over the past two years. Most patients were middle-aged, with an almost equal gender distribution. Lumbar degenerative disease was the most common case. These findings highlight the growing demand for spinal surgical services and emphasize the importance of strategic planning for prevention, resource allocation, surgical training, and healthcare service development.