The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol 62, Issue 3 364-376, Copyright © 1980 by Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc
Long-term follow-up of scoliosis fusion
A Moskowitz, JH Moe, RB Winter and H Binner
One hundred and ten scoliotic patients underwent correction and spine
fusion by one of us (J. H. M.) at Gillette Children's Hospital between 1947
and 1957. Sixty-one of these patients were evaluated in 1977 for this
follow-up study. The evaluation consisted of physical and roentgenographic
examination, photographs, and a detailed psychosocial analysis. The aims of
the study were to evaluate: (1) the long-term stability of the fusion; (2)
the incidence and severity of low-back pain; and (3) the degree of
integration of the patient into society. The results showed that a solid
fusion had no significant loss of correction with time. Eighty-four per
cent of the patients lost only zero to 5 degrees of correction during an
average follow-up of twenty-six years. Low-back pain was found to be no
more frequent than in the normal population in this age group, and there
was less low-back pain than in a comparable series of scoliotic patients
without fusion. There was no correlation between the occurrence of low-back
pain and the length or magnitude of the fused curve or the lowest extent of
the fusion. An unexpected finding was the high incidence of neck pain, the
cause of which is unknown. Psychosocial analysis revealed that the patients
were productive, active, stable persons who were working and contributing
members of society.
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