Revision Surgery After Spinal Fusion in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis

Study design: Retrospective Aanalysis of a Large Cohort of Cases. Objectives: To explore the rate and cause of revision surgery after spinal fusion in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis(AIS). Methods: The patients diagnosed with AIS who underwent spinal fusion surgery in a single center from 2002 to 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. All the patients were followed up at least 2 years. The causes of revision surgery were analyzed and the incidence of revision surgery was counted. Results: A total of 1816 AIS patients were included in the study. After an average of 8.5 years (range 3-18 years) follow-up, a total of 51 patients underwent 54 revision operations. The overall revision rate is 2.8%. The revision rate of combined approach (anterior and posterior) and anterior approach was 6.6% (8/122), and the revision rate of posterior approach was 2.5% (43/ 1694). The most common causes of revision were malposition of implants/implants failure (37%), followed by poor wound healing/ infection (23%). Spinal decompensation, adding on and proximal junctional kyphosis (PJK) accounted for 20%. The compensatory curve continued to worsen after selective fusion accounted for 14% and finally the discomfort with the implants accounted for 6%. Conclusions: The overall revision rate of spinal fusion for AIS is 2.8%. The implants and incision problems were the most common causes of revision surgeries.

Automated summary

This study retrospectively analyzed a large cohort of AIS patients who underwent spinal fusion surgery and found that the overall revision rate was 2.8%, with implants and incision problems being the most common causes of revision surgeries.