The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol 75, Issue 1 46-52, Copyright © 1993 by Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc
Changes in residual volume relative to vital capacity and total lung capacity after arthrodesis of the spine in patients who have adolescent idiopathic scoliosis
SS Upadhyay, EK Ho, WM Gunawardene, JC Leong and LC Hsu
Duchess of Kent Children's Hospital, Sandy Bay, Hong Kong.
We evaluated pulmonary functions before correction and again after a mean
follow-up of three years in thirty-five patients who had adolescent
idiopathic scoliosis. The mean age (and standard deviation) at the time of
correction was 13.7 +/- 1.8 years, and at the time of follow-up it was 17.1
+/- 2.5 years. The findings in the patients were compared with those in
matched normal control subjects. With the exception of forced vital
capacity, all of the determinations of absolute pulmonary volume increased
postoperatively, but the increases were not all proportional. When the
preoperative and follow-up determinations were expressed as percentages of
the predicted pulmonary volumes (on the basis of age) to eliminate any
effects of the difference in age, there was no change in total lung
capacity, but vital capacity and forced vital capacity were significantly
reduced. In addition, there was a significant increase in residual volume.
Of the mean increase in total lung capacity after correction of the
scoliosis, 82 per cent was due to an increase in residual volume and 18 per
cent, to an increase in vital capacity. However, in control subjects
age-matched at the time of follow-up, the increase in vital capacity
contributed 69 per cent of the mean increase in total lung capacity, a very
marked difference from the findings in the patients who had scoliosis. In
addition, two pulmonary-volume ratios--residual volume to vital capacity
and residual volume to total lung capacity--increased in a highly
significant fashion (Mann-Whitney test, p < 0.001) after arthrodesis of
the spine.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Technorati What's this?
