Pulmonary function after thoracoplasty and posterior correction for thoracic scoliosis patients

To study the effect of the thoracoplasty on the pulmonary function after the posterior scoliosis correction operation.

From June 2001 to June 2010, 60 thoracic scoliosis patients (24 males, 36 females) were collected. Their average age was 17.6 ± 5.0 years. All patients underwent posterior 3-dimensional operation and thoracoplasty. The pulmonary function was examined preoperatively, 3 months, and 24 months after the operation. The correlation between the postoperative decrease ratio of pulmonary function parameters and postoperative recovery time was analyzed by Pearson correlations.

The average Cobb's angle in the coronal plane was corrected from 99.1° ± 17.6° preoperatively to 49.8° ± 11.8° postoperatively, with the average correction ratio of (44.3 ± 12.6) %. There were significant decrease in the pulmonary function parameters 3 months after the operation [vital capacity (VC), 14.4%; percentage of the VC with measured/predicted value (VC%), 14.7%; forced vital capacity (FVC), 15.7%; percentage of the FVC with measured/predicted value (FVC%), 16.6%; the first second forced expiratory volume (FEV1), 13.2%; the percentage of FEV1 with measured/predicted value (FEV1%), 12.9%] (P < 0.05). The pulmonary function parameters at the last follow-up were slightly higher than the preoperative parameters, but the statistical difference was not significant (P > 0.05). The decrease ratio of postoperative pulmonary function parameters and the postoperative recovery time was positively correlated.

The pulmonary function will be decreased obviously after the thoracoplasty and the posterior scoliosis correction operation in the short time, but returns to the normal level after 2 years.