A new study published in Spine examines two-year outcomes for patients with early-onset scoliosis who were treated with magnetically controlled growing rods.
The researchers conducted a retrospective study with 23 patients who underwent the two-year follow-up. The patients were in a primary group or a conversion group. The average preoperative age was 6.6 years old in the primary group and 8.3 years old in the conversion group. The researchers found:
1. There were 41 adverse events that appeared in 11 patients. Of those adverse events, 14 were implant-related.
2. The patients had major coronal curve magnitude improvement from 61.3 degrees to 34.4 degrees preoperative to postoperative among the primary group. In the conversion group, the improvement was 49.4 degrees to 43.8 degrees.
3. The patients reported maintaining the curve for the full two years in both groups.
4. There was a height improvement in T1-S1 from 252.7 mm to 288.9 mm in the primary cases. The patients reported the improvement for two years.
5. Patients in the conversion group reported T1-S1 height as 270.3 mm at baseline and 2.94.4 mm after the procedure, and 290.2 mm two-years after surgery. The average patient reported a 4.2 mm loss from the postoperative measurement to the measurement two years after surgery.
The T1-S1 height decreased in conversion cases two years after surgery, but it wasn't a statistically significant decline.