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.