5 key notes on spinal fusion for early scoliosis in pediatric patients with cerebral palsy

Spine

A new study published in Clinical Spine Surgery examines spinal fusion for neuromuscular scoliosis in children.

The study authors conducted a retrospective review of 33 children who underwent spinal fusion for cerebral palsy neuromuscular scoliosis from 1989 to 2006 with unit-rod insertion. The researchers found:

 

1. The gross motor function classification system level was reported as V in 31 patients and IV in two patients.

 

2. Most — 94 percent — of the patients had seizure disorders. Another 88 percent had gastric feeding tubes and 27 percent had tracheostomy tubes.

 

3. The average postoperative pelvic obliquity correction was 15±9 degrees and the average Cobb angles after surgery were 21; at the final follow-up the average Cobb angle was 24 degrees.

 

4. There wasn't a significant change in postoperative measurements at the final follow-up.

 

5. One patient reported a deep wound infection and 10 other problems. There were 11 patients who died within 5.6±3.8 years after surgery.

 

"In our cohort with early-onset neuromuscular scoliosis, spine fusion was associated with minimal short-term and long-term morbidity, but there was 28 percent mortality at 10 years of follow-up and 50 percent predicted mortality at 15 years," concluded the study authors.

 

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