ABSTRACT

Introduction:

Static encephalopathy developing linked to damage occurring in the immature brain for any reason is called cerebral palsy (CP). As CP patients have abnormal muscle tonus and linked posture disorders, scoliosis is frequently encountered. In this article, we retrospectively investigated CP scoliosis cases operated at our clinic and complications.

Material and Method:

Thirteen patients with surgical treatment at our clinic from 2011-2017 for CP scoliosis were retrospectively investigated. The surgical techniques, improvement rates, perioperative complications and long-term motor function changes (GMFCS) were assessed.

Results:

Nine males and 4 females were operated. Mean age was 14.3 years (range: 5-21), and mean Cobb angle was 79.3 (range: 45-135). The improvement amount in the Cobb angle was assessed as 48.2 (range: 20-70). Preoperative GMFCS score was 5 for 7 patients, 4 for 5 patients and 3 for 1 patient. One patient developed paraplegia in the 12th hour after correction (this patient was exitus in the postop 6th month due to later developing pulmonary complications). One patient developed urinary incontinence. Infection was not identified in any patient. One patient had level increased due to development of kyphosis in proximal neighboring segment.

Conclusion:

We believe encouraging improvements can be obtained with posterior instrumentation and fusion surgery in CP scoliosis patients minimizing complications including coronal balance, sagittal balance and pelvic obliquity and there is no major disadvantage compared to the unit rod instrumentation system.