A new study published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery examines the complications associated with scoliosis correction.
The study authors examined patients who underwent adolescent idiopathic scoliosis surgery from 1995 to 2014, analyzing 3,582 patients for the report. The average patient was 14.8 years old at the time of surgery and 365 patients underwent anterior spinal fusion with instrumentation; the majority of the patient underwent posterior spinal fusion with instrumentation.
The study authors found:
1. There were 192 major complications and 2.6 percent occurred during surgery. The most common perioperative complications were:
• Wound related: 1 percent
• Neurologic: 0.5 percent
• Pulmonary: 0.4 percent
• Instrumentation-related: 0.4 percent
• Gastrointestinal: 0.2 percent
2. There was one patient death in the study group.
3. Major perioperative complication rate varied from 0 percent to 10.5 percent based on the year, with the complication rate decreasing over time. The complication rate for the anterior approach was 3 percent, compared to 2.6 percent for the posterior approach.
4. There were 2,220 patients who reported two-year follow-up results, and 4 percent hand complications; all but one of those patients underwent reoperations.
5. Most major complications were wound or instrumentation related.