Surgical correction of spinal deformities following spinal cord injury occurring in childhood

This article reports on the surgical treatment of 14 consecutive patients with paralytic spinal deformities secondary to spinal cord injury occurring in childhood. Eleven patients underwent a posterior spinal fusion and three patients underwent a combined anterior and posterior spinal arthrodesis. Luque rods were used in all but one patient. The spinal fusion extended to the sacrum in 10 patients. No patient developed postoperative wound infections or medical complications. Four patients (28.6%) who underwent initially a posterior spinal arthrodesis developed pseudarthrosis. This was treated successfully by a combined anterior and posterior spinal fusion in two patients. The remaining patients underwent a revision posterior spinal fusion with recurrence of the nonunion in one patient. A combined anterior and posterior spinal arthrodesis could be considered the treatment of choice for patients with severe deformities who can tolerate anterior surgery. If pseudarthrosis develops following posterior spinal fusion, this can be best treated by a combined anterior and posterior revision procedure with instrumentation.