Unplanned return to OR (UPROR) for children with early onset scoliosis (EOS): a comprehensive evaluation of all diagnoses and instrumentation strategies.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective analysis of a prospectively collected multicenter database.

OBJECTIVES

Our goal was to study unplanned return to the OR (UPROR, a postoperative complication that could not be treated without an additional anesthetic) as a function of C-EOS diagnosis and implant type. Growing concerns over the impact of multiple anesthetic events on the young brain have focused attention on limiting UPROR in early onset scoliosis (EOS).

METHODS

We studied all patients with a diagnosis of EOS who had surgical implantation of growing instrumentation from October 4, 2010, to September 27, 2015, with a minimum 2-year follow-up. Among the complications requiring surgical treatment (revision for implant or anchor failure, infection, or implant removal), we analyzed all UPROR events-those that required a separate anesthetic (could not be treated as part of a planned surgical lengthening) within the first 2 years after initial implantation. UPROR was analyzed by diagnosis, deformity type, and implant strategy using the C-EOS classification.

RESULTS

A total of 369 patients met inclusion criteria. Eighty-five of the 369 (23%) required unplanned trips to the operating room for various reasons. The C-EOS group at highest risk of an unplanned trip to the operating room is the hyperkyphotic neuromuscular (M3+, 14/85) cohort, followed closely by the congenital (C3N, 9/85) and neuromuscular (M3N, 8/85) groups with normal sagittal profiles and Cobb angles between 50° and 90°. Implant strategy was significantly related to risk of UPROR (p = .009; Table 1), with traditional implants (vertically expandable prosthetic titanium rib/traditional growing rod) being less likely to have an UPROR event.

CONCLUSIONS

Growing instrumentation to treat EOS, when considered comprehensively, results in a true unplanned reoperation rate within 2 years of implantation of 23% (85/369). UPROR events are more common with certain C-EOS groups (hyperkyphotic neuromuscular deformities) and implant strategies. Families should be counseled that unplanned anesthetics are common with any implant strategy available today.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level III, therapeutic.