The reasons and management of failed spinal deformity surgery

Objective To determine the cause, prevention and management of failed spinal deformity surgery, and evaluate the indication of spinal revision. Methods Thirty-one cases of failed spinal deformity surgery were treated surgically. There were 18 males and 13 females with an average age of 14.7 years(ranged from 4 to 35 years) at the present procedures. The average number of previous surgeries for this group of patients was 1.5 times. The duration between the first surgery and revision was 13-114 months, with an average of 47.9 months. There were 16 patients with consistent back pain which became worse after movement, 5 patients with implant complication (broken, loosing, explosing), 21 patients with failure of instrumentation and deterioration of deformity, 5 patients with decreased sensory and motor function. The average preoperative angel of deformity was 75.3 degrees for scoliosis and 76 degrees for kyphosis and the flexibility was 9.8% and 25.2%, respectively. All patients underwent reconstructive surgery with segmental vertebral osteotomy and trans-pedicular fixation and fusion in one or two stages according to the location and degree of the deformity. Results The average follow-up period for this group of patients was 31.8 months in 20 cases. The postoperative correction rate for scoliosis and kyphosis was 55.2% and 67.5%, respectively. There were 4 cases (12.9%) developed temporary neural dysfunction postoperatively and were recovered within 1-3 weeks after appropriate treatment. Instrumentation failure was occurred in two cases and there was no other complication in this group. Conclusion It is might be benefit to follow the principle of spinal deformity correction, fuse with adequate bone grafting and combine with proper pedicle fixation, especially for the congenital scoliosis patients, which are the efficial methods to prevent the failure of spinal deformation surgery. The management for the patients suffered from long-time back pain, spinal pseudarthrosis or progressive aggravated deformity postoperatively should be individuated depending on the degree of deformity, flexibility of the spine and the age of patients.