Over the last 6 Blog posts congenital scoliosis has been
exhaustively presented and explained.
Most cases of congenital scoliosis are mild and do not require
surgery. Of those that do need surgery
there are several well-accepted techniques for improvement and control of the
scoliosis: distraction constructs (traditional growing rods,
magnetically-controlled growing rods, VEPTR), resection with short/long fusion,
fusion without resection, and resection with Shilla procedure.
This post will finish the postings on congenital scoliosis.
The last case which will be posted is a severe, complex type
congenital scoliosis. The major problem
for this young patient (4 years old) who has two adjacent hemivertebra which is
at the junction of the thoracic spine (chest) and the lumbar spine. These two
hemivertebra cause an acute, severe deformity.
The management of this problem involved resection of both of
the hemivertebra and fusion over the severely involved section of the
spine. Though there is instrumentation
which goes high and low in the spine, these screws are Shilla screws, so they
are not fused and will slide up and down the spine as the patient grows.
If there are questions about congenital scoliosis or any
other post, please let me know…I am happy to answer all inquiries.