Abstract
130 patients with idiopathic thoracic scoliosis were operated on by means of the same anterior instrumentation principle in the period from 1987 through 1998. There were 21 males and 109 females in the age of 16(±4). Patients were randomly chosen in the group with rib hump apical osteotomy added to the anterior instrumentation (group 1) and the group with the anterior instrumentation without rib hump osteotomies (group 2). A prospective study was performed. Preoperative and postoperative gibbometry was performed. Results were as follows: frontal correction: 67% for group 1., and 74% for group 2. Rib hump changed from 23 ± 15 to 6 ± 6.2 (74%) for group 1, and 20 ± 1.5 mm (62%) for group 2. Rib valley changed from 21 ± 11 to 7 ± 4 (63%) (group 1) and 37 ± 2.8 to 16 ± 3.4 (56%) (group 2). There were 4 hematothoraxes in group 2. and no haematothoraxes in group 1. It seems that rib hump osteotomy has no inßuence upon frontal scoliosis correction, and little inßuence upon rib valley correction. Signiþcant inßuence was noted upon rib hump correction. It might be that better spinal release and consecutive smaller corrective forces resulted in absence of haematothoraxes in group 1.
Theses abstracts were prepared by Professor Dr. Frantz Langlais. Correspondence should be addressed to him at EFORT Central Office, Freihofstrasse 22, CH-8700 Küsnacht, Switzerland.
