Complications of single growing rod constructs in the treatment of severe early-onset scoliosis: a lesson relearned.

Abstract

Early-onset scoliosis (EOS) is one of the most challenging areas of orthopedic management. Previous studies have reported that EOS patients were associated with high risk of complications following growth-friendly surgery. This study was performed to evaluate the complications of single traditional growing rods (TGRs) in the treatment of EOS. In a retrospective chart review study, medical records of all EOS patients treated with single TGRs between 2006 and 2018 were analyzed. Patients under the age of 10 at the time of surgery who had at least 24months of follow-up were included. Intra- and post-operative complications included both device-related and disease-related complications. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS. A total of 35 patients with a mean age of 5.7 ± 2.1years with the mean follow-up duration of 33.3 ± 9.1months were included in the final analysis. Of the 35 participants, 27 children (77.1%) experienced at least one complication. A total of 61 complications were observed, giving rise to 1.7 complications per patient. An unplanned surgical procedure was needed to manage 42 of the 61 complications (68.8%). Thirty-five cases of implant failure, 11 cases of deep infection, and 2 cases of junctional kyphosis were identified. It seems that even in the setting that the use of dual TGRs is not possible, the use of single TGRs as the only therapeutic modality should be minimized due to high rate of complications even as a bridge treatment. Therapeutic level III.