Camptocormia in Parkinson Disease: Systematic Review of Management Using Spine Surgery

Postural abnormalities are a debilitating symptom of Parkinson disease (PD) that may require spinal intervention. Camptocormia is a unique abnormality most seen in PD, defined by a severe forward flexion of the trunk that completely resolves when supine. The condition presents a challenge due to an undefined pathophysiology and optimal therapeutic approach in a high-risk patient population. In this study, we systematically reviewed the literature regarding the use of spine surgery for the treatment of camptocormia in PD.

PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library were systematically queried for studies involving spine surgery as treatment of PD-associated camptocormia. Studies involving nonsurgical management, involving deep brain stimulation, involving noncamptocormic PD patients undergoing surgery, or were out of scope were excluded.

The search resulted in 5 studies, with a total of 19 patients with PD with camptocormia who underwent spine surgery (73.7% women). The mean age was 69.5 years (range, 59-83), and the mean PD duration was 69.5 months (range, 36-84). Of 19 patients, 11 required surgical revision (57.9%), with an average of 0.68 revisions per patient (range, 0-2). Radiographic and patient-reported outcomes were inconsistently reported yet showed improvement. Ultimately, 18 patients were reported to have positive outcomes.

Despite an increased risk of complication and revision that is inherent to patients with PD, spine surgery has been proven as a reasonable alternative that should be prospectively studied further because 18 of 19 patients had favorable outcomes.