Letters

Abstract

In Response: This letter is written to retract a letter to the editor response by Vora et al1 due to lack of involvement and agreement with the senior authors. The reply was not reviewed or agreed upon by any of the 3 senior authors. Dr. Vora felt he was pressured by the journal to sign off on the galley proof because of deadline expediency and did not consult with the senior authors nor obtain any of their signatures. We strongly regret the editorializing stated in response number 6, i.e. “We believe the current enthusiasm/fad towards the use of pedicle screw construct in flexible Lenke 1 curves is industry driven to a significant extent and possibly driven by surgeon’s ego than by the actual advantages presented by the construct.” This inflammatory statement had no scientific basis, was not studied in the comparative review, evaluation data, analysis of results, or presented in the discussion and conclusions of the original manuscript. It was a unilateral opinion expressed solely by Dr. Vora who now regrets its connotation and unfortunate publication. While we agree in principle with the majority of the reply, we categorically condemn, deny, and demand retraction of item number 6. We also recommend that editorial license be initiated in the future to require signatures of all senior authors in response to letters to the editor and that the response be relegated to validated data described in the article in question. Alvin H. Crawford, MD Past President, Scoliosis Research Society Oheneba Boachie Adjei, MD President Elect, Scoliosis Research Society Lawrence G. Lenke, MD Member, Board of Directors Scoliosis Research Society