The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol 70, Issue 1 41-44, Copyright © 1988 by Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc
The treatment of scoliosis in cerebral palsy by posterior spinal fusion with Luque-rod segmental instrumentation
WK Gersoff and TS Renshaw
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Newington Children's Hospital, Connecticut 06111.
Thirty-three patients who had cerebral palsy and scoliosis underwent
posterior spinal fusion with Luque-rod segmental instrumentation. The mean
curve measured 65 degrees preoperatively and 30 degrees postoperatively.
The mean loss of correction was 3 degrees after a mean length of follow-up
of forty months. As of the time of writing, pseudarthrosis had not
developed in any patient. No patient had a broken rod or an increased
neurological deficit. There were no major pulmonary complications. The most
common early postoperative complication was wound infection, which occurred
in five patients, none of whom required removal of the hardware. We
concluded that posterior spinal fusion with Luque-rod segmental
instrumentation is an effective method of obtaining and maintaining
correction of a spinal curve, with minimum complications, in patients who
have cerebral palsy and progressive scoliosis.