OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine our clinical and radiographic results of patients with congenital deformities of the spine underwent to single-stage posterior hemivertebra resection and correction with segmental posterior instrumentation and fusion. METHODS: The records of 31 consecutive patients who had undergone to hemivertebra resection between 2003 and 2010 were reviewed to identify age and sex, correction rates, fusion levels, neurological status, blood loss, time of surgery and complications. RESULTS: We identified 22 patients with scoliosis and pre-operative Cobb averaged 46.66° (range 20-88°) and 9 patients with kyphosis and averaged 83.54° (range 13-137°). Twenty four patients were female and 7 were male. Thirteen patients were teenagers and 18 were children (range 1-19 years old). The hemivertebrae resection was done in 1 level (64%), 2 levels (32%) and 3 levels (4%). The correction rates for scoliosis and kyphosis were 63.8% and 40.1% and pos-operative Cobb averaged was 16.88° and 50°. Complications occurred in 7 patients: pseudoarthrosis, junctional kyphosis, optic neuritis, neurologic deficit, wound infection, and death. The average blood loss was 1132ml (range 300ml-3500ml) and time of the surgery was 7.15 hours (range 4-13 hours). CONCLUSIONS: Posterior hemivertebra resection is a valuable technique to assessment angular congenital spinal deformities and an efficient alternative that offers satisfactory correction in both coronal and sagittal planes without need for anterior approach.
Spine; Spine; Scoliosis; Orthopedic procedures
