The development of spinal deformity in children with underlying neurodisability can affect their ability to function and impact on their quality of life, as well as compromise provision of nursing care. Patients with neuromuscular spinal deformity are among the most challenging due to the number and complexity of medical comorbidities that increase the risk for severe intraoperative or postoperative complications. A multidisciplinary approach is mandatory at every stage to ensure that all nonoperative measures have been applied, and that the treatment goals have been clearly defined and agreed with the family. This will involve input from multiple specialities, including allied healthcare professionals, such as physiotherapists and wheelchair services. Surgery should be considered when there is significant impact on the patients’ quality of life, which is usually due to poor sitting balance, back or costo-pelvic pain, respiratory complications, or problems with self-care and feeding. Meticulous preoperative assessment is required, along with careful consideration of the nature of the deformity and the problems that it is causing. Surgery can achieve good curve correction and results in high levels of satisfaction from the patients and their caregivers. Modern modular posterior instrumentation systems allow an effective deformity correction. However, the risks of surgery remain high, and involvement of the family at all stages of decision-making is required in order to balance the risks and anticipated gains of the procedure, and to select those patients who can mostly benefit from spinal correction.
The loss of cervical
To examine the long-term outcome of arthrodesis of the hip undertaken in a paediatric population in treating painful arthritis of the hip. In our patient population, most of whom live rurally in hilly terrain and have limited healthcare access and resources, hip arthrodesis has been an important surgical option for the monoarticular painful hip in a child. A follow-up investigation was undertaken on a cohort of 28 children previously reported at a mean of 4.8 years. The present study looked at 26 patients who had an arthrodesis of the hip as a child at a mean follow-up of 20 years (15 to 29).Aims
Methods
Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), defined by an age at presentation of 11 to 18 years, has a prevalence of 0.47% and accounts for approximately 90% of all cases of idiopathic scoliosis. Despite decades of research, the exact aetiology of AIS remains unknown. It is becoming evident that it is the result of a complex interplay of genetic, internal, and environmental factors. It has been hypothesized that genetic variants act as the initial trigger that allow epigenetic factors to propagate AIS, which could also explain the wide phenotypic variation in the presentation of the disorder. A better understanding of the underlying aetiological mechanisms could help to establish the diagnosis earlier and allow a more accurate prediction of deformity progression. This, in turn, would prompt imaging and therapeutic intervention at the appropriate time, thereby achieving the best clinical outcome for this group of patients. Cite this article:
This study addressed two questions: first, does surgical correction of an idiopathic scoliosis increase the volume of the rib cage, and second, is it possible to evaluate the change in lung function after corrective surgery for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) using biplanar radiographs of the ribcage with 3D reconstruction? A total of 45 patients with a thoracic AIS which needed surgical correction and fusion were included in a prospective study. All patients underwent pulmonary function testing (PFT) and low-dose biplanar radiographs both preoperatively and one year after surgery. The following measurements were recorded: forced vital capacity (FVC), slow vital capacity (SVC), and total lung capacity (TLC). Rib cage volume (RCV), maximum rib hump, main thoracic curve Cobb angle (MCCA), medial-lateral and anteroposterior diameter, and T4-T12 kyphosis were calculated from 3D reconstructions of the biplanar radiographs.Aims
Methods
The aim of this study was to review the current evidence surrounding curve type and morphology on curve progression risk in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). A comprehensive search was conducted by two independent reviewers on PubMed, Embase, Medline, and Web of Science to obtain all published information on morphological predictors of AIS progression. Search items included ‘adolescent idiopathic scoliosis’, ‘progression’, and ‘imaging’. The inclusion and exclusion criteria were carefully defined. Risk of bias of studies was assessed with the Quality in Prognostic Studies tool, and level of evidence for each predictor was rated with the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE) approach. In all, 6,286 publications were identified with 3,598 being subjected to secondary scrutiny. Ultimately, 26 publications (25 datasets) were included in this review.Aims
Methods
Acetabular retroversion is a recognized cause of hip impingement and can be influenced by pelvic tilt (PT), which changes in different functional positions. Positional changes in PT have not previously been studied in patients with acetabular retroversion. Supine and standing anteroposterior (AP) pelvic radiographs were retrospectively analyzed in 69 patients treated for symptomatic acetabular retroversion. Measurements were made for acetabular index (AI), lateral centre-edge angle (LCEA), crossover index, ischial spine sign, and posterior wall sign. The change in the angle of PT was measured both by the sacro-femoral-pubic (SFP) angle and the pubic symphysis to sacroiliac (PS-SI) index.Aims
Methods
The aim of the study was to compare two methods of calculating pelvic incidence (PI) and pelvic tilt (PT), either by using the femoral heads or acetabular domes to determine the bicoxofemoral axis, in patients with unilateral or bilateral primary hip osteoarthritis (OA). PI and PT were measured on standing lateral radiographs of the spine in two groups: 50 patients with unilateral (Group I) and 50 patients with bilateral hip OA (Group II), using the femoral heads or acetabular domes to define the bicoxofemoral axis. Agreement between the methods was determined by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and the standard error of measurement (SEm). The intraobserver reproducibility and interobserver reliability of the two methods were analyzed on 31 radiographs in both groups to calculate ICC and SEm.Aims
Methods
Spinal fusion remains the gold standard in the treatment of idiopathic scoliosis. However, anterior vertebral body tethering (AVBT) is gaining widespread interest, despite the limited data on its efficacy. The aim of our study was to determine the clinical efficacy of AVBT in skeletally immature patients with idiopathic scoliosis. All consecutive skeletally immature patients with idiopathic scoliosis treated with AVBT enrolled in a longitudinal, multicentre, prospective database between 2013 and 2016 were analyzed. All patients were treated by one of two surgeons working at two independent centres. Data were collected prospectively in a multicentre database and supplemented retrospectively where necessary. Patients with a minimum follow-up of two years were included in the analysis. Clinical success was set a priori as a major coronal Cobb angle of < 35° at the most recent follow-up.Aims
Methods
The complex relationship between acetabular component position and spinopelvic mobility in patients following total hip arthroplasty (THA) renders it difficult to optimize acetabular component positioning. Mobility of the normal lumbar spine during postural changes results in alterations in pelvic tilt (PT) to maintain the sagittal balance in each posture and, as a consequence, markedly changes the functional component anteversion (FCA). This study aimed to investigate the in vivo association of lumbar degenerative disc disease (DDD) with the PT angle and with FCA during postural changes in THA patients. A total of 50 patients with unilateral THA underwent CT imaging for radiological evaluation of presence and severity of lumbar DDD. In all, 18 patients with lumbar DDD were compared to 32 patients without lumbar DDD. In vivo PT and FCA, and the magnitudes of changes (ΔPT; ΔFCA) during supine, standing, swing-phase, and stance-phase positions were measured using a validated dual fluoroscopic imaging system.Aims
Methods
Pelvic incidence (PI) is considered an important anatomical parameter for determining the sagittal balance of the spine. The contribution of an abnormal PI to hip osteoarthritis (OA) remains controversial. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between PI and hip OA, and the difference in PI between hip OA without anatomical abnormalities (primary OA) and hip OA with developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH-OA). In this study, 100 patients each of primary OA, DDH-OA, and control subjects with no history of hip disease were included. CT images were used to measure PI, sagittal femoral head coverage, α angle, and acetabular anteversion. PI was also subdivided into three categories: high PI (larger than 64.0°), medium PI (42.0° to 64.0°), and low PI (less than 42.0°). The anterior centre edge angles, posterior centre edge angles, and total sagittal femoral head coverage were measured. The correlations between PI and sagittal femoral head coverage, α angle, and acetabular anteversion were examined.Aims
Methods
The aetiologies of common degenerative spine, hip, and knee pathologies are still not completely understood. Mechanical theories have suggested that those diseases are related to sagittal pelvic morphology and spinopelvic-femoral dynamics. The link between the most widely used parameter for sagittal pelvic morphology, pelvic incidence (PI), and the onset of degenerative lumbar, hip, and knee pathologies has not been studied in a large-scale setting. A total of 421 patients from the Cohort Hip and Cohort Knee (CHECK) database, a population-based observational cohort, with hip and knee complaints < 6 months, aged between 45 and 65 years old, and with lateral lumbar, hip, and knee radiographs available, were included. Sagittal spinopelvic parameters and pathologies (spondylolisthesis and degenerative disc disease (DDD)) were measured at eight-year follow-up and characteristics of hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA) at baseline and eight-year follow-up. Epidemiology of the degenerative disorders and clinical outcome scores (hip and knee pain and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index) were compared between low PI (< 50°), normal PI (50° to 60°), and high PI (> 60°) using generalized estimating equations.Aims
Methods
To report the mid-term results of a modified self-growing rod (SGR) technique for the treatment of idiopathic and neuromuscular early-onset scoliosis (EOS). We carried out a retrospective analysis of 16 consecutive patients with EOS treated with an SGR construct at a single hospital between September 2008 and December 2014. General demographics and deformity variables (i.e. major Cobb angle, T1 to T12 length, T1 to S1 length, pelvic obliquity, shoulder obliquity, and C7 plumb line) were recorded preoperatively, and postoperatively at yearly follow-up. Complications and revision procedures were also recorded. Only patients with a minimum follow-up of five years after surgery were included.Aims
Methods
1. On the basis of radiographic studies the incidence of degenerative change in the intervertebral disc in primitive squatting populations is considerably less than that found in civilised peoples. 2. The suggestion is made that
1. Evidence is presented that the basic lesion in scoliosis is relative lengthening of the anterior components of the spine compared with the posterior elements. 2. The logical treatment is to reduce this relative lengthening either by lengthening the posterior elements or shortening the anterior elements. This may be achieved by anterior lumbar wedge osteotomy or by epiphysiodesis; and correction of lumbar
We present a method of visualising spinal deformities in three dimensions using conventional radiographs and computer graphics. The shape of the spinal column can be determined from the anteroposterior and lateral radiographs and displayed in any projection. In patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, the fundamental lesion, an abnormal
