The Synthes Spine Vertical Expandable Prosthetic Titanium Rib (VEPTR) allows new growth sparing surgical procedures for treatment of spine deformity in early childhood. The prime FDA indication for its use is the presence of thoracic insufficiency syndrome [1], which is the inability of the thorax to support normal respiration or lung growth. This syndrome is most often due to three-dimensional...

BACKGROUND Increased awareness regarding the importance of the sagittal spinal profile has led to more aggressive correction of sagittal malalignment. The utilization trends of pedicle subtraction osteotomy (PSO) for sagittal plane correction in spinal deformity surgery have not been well characterized. METHODS A commercially available database (PearlDiver, Inc) was queried for both Private P...

Scoliosis is a three‐dimensional (3D) spinal deformity involving one or more spine curvatures with vertebral rotation. In the past 30 years, Chinese spine surgeons adopted international advanced technology and concepts, took advantage of abundant Chinese patient resources with severe deformity, and developed novel ideas and techniques, which promoted the development of the diagnosis and treatme...

BACKGROUND Pre-operative spine level localization by palpation of anatomical landmarks (ribs, spinous processes) in posterior approaches for surgeries from T4 to L2 is often inaccurate. This can lead to ineffective utilization of procedural time, increased radiation dose, potentially longer skin incision and wrong level surgery. Factors affecting topographical accuracy includes body mass index ...

Early-onset scoliosis (EOS) is defined as curvature of the spine in children >10° with onset before age 10 years. Young children with EOS are at risk for impaired pulmonary function because of the high risk of progressive spinal deformity and thoracic constraints during a critical time of lung development. The treatment of EOS is very challenging because the population is inhomogeneous, often m...

STUDY DESIGN Review of the literature and author';s experience with the treatment of severe spinal deformity. OBJECTIVE To define the anatomic and physiologic challenges in treating severe spinal deformity and to describe the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative strategies to achieve the optimal safe result. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Severe pediatric spinal deformity is a relati...