Causes and strategies on decompensation after operation for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis / 中华骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective The study was to probe into the causes and strategies of decompensation after operation in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis in order to reduce the operative mistakes and be aware of pitfalls in scoliosis surgery.Methods From July1997to December2001,174patients underwent the operation of three-dimensional correction of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis,ten of them developed postoperative decom-pensation.Other four patients with postoperative decompensation were referred to our hospital,who received the primary operation for idiopathic scoliosis at the local hospital.In all,fourteen patients with decompensa-tion were retrospectively reviewed including3male and11female cases aging from12to23years(range,15.7years).The criteria of postoperative decompensation was defined as trunk shift more than2mm,shoul-der tilting,aggravated distal lumbar rotation in coronal plane,the plumb line of center of C 7 deviating the from the posterior edge of S 1 and kyphosis of thoracic-lumbar junction more than10degree in sagittal plane.Results The analysis was made depending on preoperative and postoperative X-ray films,the causes of de-compensation after surgery included classification error,inappropriate fusion level,over correction for tho-racic curve and insufficient knowledge of lumbosacral hemicurve in this group.According to the patientssubjective symptoms and decompensation conditions,ten of the patients were treated surgically,which in-cluded re-fusion and fixation for3patients,fusion level extension for6patients and fusion of the upper tho-racic curve after removing major thoracic curve instrumentation for one patient.The other four patients re-ceived conservative therapy with brace.The patients were followed up from1to3years(average,18.9months),except one case followed up to6months.Twelve patients regained spinal balance;two patients re-mained more than20mm trunk shift.Conclusion Although operative treatment is frequently used for idio-pathic scoliosis,it is important to recognize the necessity for operative intervention,indication for surgery.The adolescent idiopathic scoliosis should be operated according to the curve type and flexibility,the appro-priate fusion level and operative procedures can contribute to lessen the postoperative decompensation.If postoperative decompensation occurs,therapeutic decision should be made according to subjective symptoms and the decompensation type of the patients.