Good news from a recent study of scoliosis spinal fusion patients!
According to this new release from the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, a small study of 20 scoliosis fusion patients indicates little to no degeneration 10 years post-op.
New instrumentation is credited with allowing "...the spine to be corrected in a much more natural, physiologic way..." This is one of just a few studies that have examined how scoliosis patients fare years after surgery.
While this report is encouraging, 10 years is not long enough to accurately predict what may happen in the long-term, IMHO. Ten years after my scoliosis surgery (with the now-antiquated Harrington rod), I was doing great, too. It has only been within the past few years (almost 30 years post-op) that I have felt the accumulative affects of degeneration and flatback syndrome. But, hopefully, this is the beginning of a trend to track scoliosis fusion patients as they age.
3 years ago
