Not only is there the lifespan of the hardware that’s a concern the hardware can also fail. The issue is we don’t always know how long that lifespan is, nor do we fully understand the multitude of factors that can influence its longevity. The bottom line is that every hardware has a lifespan, and we know that there are limitations to how long that hardware will remain in peak condition. Off you go.”Īt two years post surgery, most of the patients are still very young, with many still having growth and development to go through, and that surgery can affect that growth and development.Īs far as I know, there’s no data saying, “We did 100 spinal fusions on 12 years olds, and this is the outcome for them now that they’re 20, 30, 40, and 50 years old.”Īnother big concern I have, and it’s a concern with any form of surgery that puts foreign hardware into the body, is hardware longevity and failure.Īny medical procedure that depends upon installing foreign and unnatural hardware into the body comes with additional risks and related questions: What type of material is being used? How long will the hardware last? Can the hardware break or malfunction in any way? What happens if the hardware does fail? When follow-ups are done to scoliosis patients who have undergone spinal-fusion surgery, they are mainy 2- or 5-year follow-ups, and even within that range, the majority of follow-ups are only two years later.Īt these 2-year follow-ups, often the assessment is, “Okay, it’s two years down the road, and everything’s great. This is particularly disturbing considering who the majority of scoliosis patients are that the surgery is being performed on: young children and adolescents. There is no data or research that documents this long-term outcome, and this is scary because it’s a major, costly, and invasive operation. One of the issues I have with patients undergoing spinal-fusion surgery to treat their scoliosis is that we don’t actually know what the long-term effects will be 20, 30 years down the road. Adult Scoliosis and Spinal-Fusion Surgery. ![]() The Dominance of the Traditional Approach.
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