Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J E Lonstein.
Various nonoperative treatments are discussed. In the authors' clinics, the Milwaukee brace is used occasionally for the patient with a thoracic scoliosis in whom the electrical stimulator could not be used, or when the parents wish to try another form of nonoperative therapy when the stimulator has failed. The Milwaukee brace is still the treatment of choice for juvenile idiopathic scoliosis.
In light of the questions and controversy regarding school screening for spinal deformities, should the programs be dropped? The natural history is not completely known and the results of nonoperative treatment questioned. The costs are high due to over-referral and numerous physician visits and radiographs. Would it not be best to wait until the epidemiologic questions are answered? The best approach is one in the middle ground. The program needs to be organized and strengthened. With the education of screeners, over-referral can be reduced. The treating physician must confirm the physical finding, take appropriate radiographs, and plan appropriate follow-up. In this way, the costs will be reduced. In addition, with knowledge regarding natural history, only larger curves or progressive curves will be treated. Nonoperative treatment of idiopathic scoliosis is effective. It can control progression and even result in correction of some curves. The overall effectiveness of braces and electrical stimulation needs to be constantly reviewed. How do these forms of nonoperative treatment affect the progressive curve, and do they reduce the need for surgery in idiopathic scoliosis? Only after we have more studies on natural history and on the results of nonoperative treatment can screening for scoliosis be reassessed to determine its role in the overall treatment program of spinal deformities.
Fifty-five patients who had loss of lumbar lordosis after spinal fusion and subsequently had corrective osteotomies were studied. When they were first seen, fifty-two patients (95 per cent) were unable to stand erect and forty-nine (89 per cent) had back pain. The previous use of distraction instrumentation with a hook placed at the level of the lower lumbar spine or the sacrum was the factor that was most frequently identified as leading to the development of the flatback syndrome. Sixty-six extension osteotomies were performed in these fifty-five patients. Nineteen patients (35 per cent) had an associated anterior spinal fusion. Thirty-three patients (60 per cent) had one or more complications, including pseudarthrosis, a dural tear, failure of hardware, neurapraxia, and urinary tract infection. The results of the operation were evaluated at follow-up by review of clinical records, radiographs, and questionnaires. At an average follow-up of six years (range, two to fourteen years), most patients felt that they had benefited from the corrective osteotomies. However, twenty-six patients (47 per cent) continued to lean forward and twenty patients (36 per cent) continued to have moderate or severe back pain. The failure to restore sagittal plane balance led to a higher rate of pseudarthrosis, which was associated with recurrent deformity. Anterior spinal fusion combined with posterior osteotomy resulted in greater maintenance of correction. The prevention of flatback syndrome is important, since its treatment is difficult. When a spinal fusion must be extended to the level of the lower lumbar spine or the sacrum, the use of distraction instrumentation should be avoided in order to prevent this deformity.
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Between 1976 and 1984, twenty-one patients with ankylosing spondylitis were treated surgically. Eight patients with rigid thoracic kyphosis underwent a two-stage combined procedure. The average correction was 36 degrees. Eight patients underwent a single-stage lumbar osteotomy with Harrington compression instrumentation. The average correction was 31 degrees. Five patients presented with stress fractures and back pain. All underwent combined anterior and posterior surgery. The average correction was 9 degrees. Two patients underwent anterior decompression for progressive paraplegia. Both showed improvement in neurologic function. At follow-up, all but one patient had improvement in pain and spinal alignment. There have been no deaths or persistent neurologic problems from these procedures.
Twenty-six adults, ranging in age from nineteen to fifty-eight years old, were treated for idiopathic scoliosis by two-stage anterior and posterior spinal fusion. The goals of the combined procedure were to increase correction of the curve and decrease the rate of pseudarthrosis. Preoperatively, the major curves measured an average of 83 degrees, and on the best side-bend they averaged 59 degrees, a 29 per cent degree of flexibility. At the time of discharge from the hospital the curves had improved to an average of 44 degrees, a correction of the preoperative curve of 39 degrees or 47 per cent. At an average length of follow-up of forty-nine months, the major curves measured an average of 50 degrees, a 41 per cent correction compared with the initial curves. Twenty-three of the major curves were better than when they were measured on the preoperative radiograph of the best side-bend, by an average of 15 degrees, but eight curves were either the same or worse. No patient had pseudarthrosis or permanent neurological injury. It is our conclusion that a two-stage anterior and posterior fusion is of value for the treatment of the adult who has a rigid curve that requires maximum correction to allow the head, shoulders, and torso to be centered over the pelvis. We do not recommend the use of instrumentation for the anterior fusion as this did not increase the correction of the curve in this series of patients.
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This study is a retrospective review of 43 adult patients with idiopathic or congenital scoliosis who had spinal fusion from T11 or above to the sacrum. This study was prompted by the frustrations of the treating surgeons in attempting long fusions from the thoracic spine to the sacrum. Of 25 patients treated with a single-stage posterior fusion only 28% had a good result with a single procedure. Failures were due to pseudarthrosis, decompensation, or loss of lumbar lordosis. Ten patients treated with posterior fusion and subsequent 6-month augmentation had a 70% success rate. Eight patients treated with anterior followed by posterior fusion had a 75% success rate. The ideal answer to this clinical problem has not yet been found.
Twelve patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and scoliosis, seven girls and five boys (average age at presentation, ten years), were investigated for an average of 49 months. All but one of the patients were ambulatory. The curve patterns were thoracic in two, thoracolumbar in four, and double thoracic and lumbar curves in six. There was an associated kyphosis in six. Three patients had brace treatment with curve control in two. Four patients underwent posterior spinal fusion with Harrington instrumentation, one with segmental sublaminar wires. Post-operative management consisted of a cast for one patient and a brace for the remaining three. Follow-up period in the surgical patients ranged from 19 to 45 months (average, 32 months). One patient had a superior mesenteric artery syndrome and two had a pseudarthrosis.
Sixteen patients with arthrogryposis having spinal deformities were reviewed. The age of diagnosis of scoliosis was from birth to 15 years. Many different curve patterns were seen. Five patients had decreased anterior-posterior thoracic diameter associated with decreasing vital capacity. One of them died at age 6 months of bronchopneumonia and one other at 16 years from cardiac arrest during surgery elsewhere. Eight patients had nonoperative treatment with an orthosis, and of these, three are still under orthotic care. For the remaining five, one had improved at the end of the treatment, and four had increased curvatures in the orthosis. Six patients underwent surgery, four from the group treated by bracing, and two having surgery as the primary treatment at this Center. One patient had posterior fusion without instrumentation, four had posterior fusion with instrumentation, and one had posterior instrumentation without fusion. Spinal problems can occur in arthrogryposis patients, are poorly controlled nonoperatively, and frequently require surgical treatment, especially if there is thoracic lordosis.
Eleven patients diagnosed as having muscular dystrophy and who underwent posterior spinal fusion were reviewed: Becker dystrophy in one, limb girdle in two, facioscapulohumeral in one, myopathia unspecified in one, myotonia dystrophica in two, myotonia congenita in one, and hypotonia congenita in three. There were eight females and three males. The curve pattern was thoracic in four, thoracolumbar in three, double thoracic and thoracolumbar in three, and thoracolumbar lordosis in one. Scoliosis was associated with kyphosis in two, with lumbar lordosis in one, and thoracic lordosis in four patients associated with poor vital capacity and shortness of breath. Seven patients had nonoperative treatment, five showing increase of the curve, and two having control of the curve. All patients had posterior spinal fusion with instrumentation with a follow-up of 9-89 months (average, 41 months). Postoperative support was used in all but one. Major complications occurred in four patients: a symptom of vascular obstruction of the duodenum in two, extubation delayed until the 7th day postoperatively in one and pseudarthrosis in one resulting in an increasing curve and refusion. One patient (limb girdle), 6 years after surgery at 21 years died from cardiomyopathy. The second (limb girdle) lost ambulation at age 22 years, 6.6 years after spinal surgery. In conclusion, patients with muscular dystrophies other than Duchenne generally have slowly evolving curves, and the use of an orthosis in the juvenile years controlled the curve until the pubertal growth spurt, when progression occurred. Surgical treatment was successful in stabilizing the deformities.
Ninety-four patients with surgical treatment of congenital kyphosis have been reviewed. Of these, 77 had a follow-up of 2 years or more, with an average follow-up of 7 years. The average age at surgery was 15, and the average kyphosis was 75 degrees. Twenty-seven had posterior fusion only, and 48 had combined anterior and posterior fusion. (Two others had anterior fusion only). The average kyphosis in the two groups was the same, but the anterior and posterior group had a better correction and a better maintenance of correction than the posterior group alone. Kyphosis of less than 55 degrees in growing children often was stabilized successfully by posterior surgery only, but adults and patients with kyphosis greater than 55 degrees required both anterior and posterior fusion. Halo-femoral traction was responsible for two of the three paralyses in this review.
We reviewed the cases of 727 patients with idiopathic scoliosis in whom the initial curve measured from 5 to 29 degrees. The patients were followed either to the end of skeletal growth or until the curve progressed. One hundred and sixty-nine patients (23.2 per cent) showed progression of the curve. The incidence of curve progression was found to be related to the pattern and magnitude of the curve, the patient's age at presentation, the Risser sign, and the patient's menarchal status. We found no correlation between progression of the curve and the patient's sex, Harrington factor, rotational prominence, family history, or radiographic measurements. A progression factor was calculated using the three strongest correlations available at initial examination: the magnitude of the curve, the Risser sign, and the patient's chronological age. A graph and nomogram are presented that can serve as a guide for advising patients' families and for planning continuing care.
We analyzed the results of posterior arthrodesis of the spine for congenital scoliosis, with or without Harrington instrumentation, in 290 of 323 patients who were operated on between the ages of five and nineteen years and were followed for two years or more. The length of follow-up averaged six years and ranged from two to twenty-eight years. The average curve before surgery was 55 degrees (range, 13 to 155 degrees), the average curve at correction was 38 degrees (range, 5 to 102 degrees), and the average curve at final follow-up was 44 degrees (range, 5 to 103 degrees). Bending of the fusion mass of more than 10 degrees was seen in forty patients; pseudarthrosis, in twenty; and adding-on of vertebrae with an increase in the curve of more than 10 degrees, in seven patients. There were four deaths, only one of them in the last twenty-five years. One was due to intraoperative cardiac arrest; one, to intraoperative overtransfusion; one, to postoperative overtransfusion; and one, to gastrointestinal bleeding eight months postoperatively while the patient was in a Risser jacket. Two patients became paraplegic due to excessive distraction with the Harrington rod, and two others had a partial cranial-nerve lesion due to halo traction. Based on these results, we concluded that posterior arthrodesis of the spine is satisfactory for most patients with congenital scoliosis. The most common problem was bending of the fusion mass in growing children, which occurred in 14 per cent of the patients. Use of Harrington instruments allowed slightly better correction (36 per cent compared with 28 per cent) but was associated with the only cases of paraplegia and infection in the series.
In a retrospective review of the cases of thirteen skeletally immature children and adolescents (four to eighteen years old) with instability of the upper part of the cervical spine (occiput to fifth cervical vertebra), we determined the efficacy of posterior arthrodesis and halo-cast immobilization in the management of this condition. The patients were divided into two groups: those with congenital vertebral anomalies alone (fusion or structural defects, or both) and those with cervical anomalies and systemic disorders (dwarfism, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, Down syndrome, and cerebral palsy). Two patterns of instability were found: instabilities at intervertebral joints adjacent to vertebral fusions, and instabilities located in vertebral defects. For all patients treatment included a posterior arthrodesis with external immobilization by a halo cast, and in two patients internal fixation with wire was also used. Solid arthrodesis was obtained in the twelve patients who were treated with autogenous grafts (iliac cancellous bone in eleven and rib bone in one), and a non-union developed in a child who was treated with bank-bone rib segments. Posterior cervical arthrodesis with wire fixation carries some risk of neural injury and often is not applicable in children with anomalous vertebrae. Spine fusion using delicate exposure, decortication using an air-drill, and placement of autogenous cancellous iliac grafts with external immobilization by a halo cast minimizes the risk of neural damage and is a reliable way to obtain a solid arthrodesis.
Adult scoliosis is a complex and difficult area of modern orthopaedics. Thanks to modern techniques of both operative and nonoperative care, treatment is now possible for problems thought of as impossible only a few years ago. Most adult scoliosis problems require a great depth of evaluation and decision making before arriving at the best form of treatment. Failure to do these necessary steps can lead to monumental problems. Nonoperative treatment of painful curves is best done with orthotics and not with physiotherapy. The operative procedure of choice for most patients is posterior instrumentation and fusion, striving for stabilization and pain improvement, not dramatic curve or cosmetic change. Pain is usually significantly improved but is almost never totally eliminated. Special procedures, such as anterior correction and fusion as well as combined anterior and posterior procedures, are appropriate only for very special problems. The complication rate for adult scoliosis surgery is far higher than for children and adolescents and usually increases with age. Surgeons should not attempt treatment of adults until thoroughly competent in the treatment of adolescent scoliosis.
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School screening for scoliosis is a well accepted technique for the early detection of spinal deformities. We reviewed the experience in Minnesota over the past eight years, with an average of one-quarter of a million children being screened yearly. Of the children screened, 3.4 per cent were referred for evaluation and scoliosis was found in 1.2 per cent. The number of children requiring operations for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis has diminished since 1970. The average curve for which a surgical procedure was done has also diminished from 60 to 42 degrees. The cost of the program is low, averaging 6.6 cents per student screened. This compares with a so-called time cost averaging thirty-five cents. Voluntary scoliosis screening in Minnesota is an efficient and cost-effective program.