Spinal arthrodesis for spinal deformity using posterior instrumentation and sublaminar wiring. A preliminary report of 100 consecutive cases.

One hundred consecutive patients with spinal deformity due to various diagnoses were treated by posterior spinal arthrodesis with instrumentation and multiple sublaminar wires. Both the Harrington and Luque rodding systems were used. A total of 1128 wire loops were passed. No patient developed paraparesis or paraplegia, but three had transient sensory disturbance. There were no cases of broken rods or wires. Forty-five of the patients had no postoperative support. This worked well for neuromuscular scolioses, but for idiopathic scoliosis there was a disturbing loss of correction in many cases. Fusion to the sacrum was best accomplished with the "Galveston" technique, other methods having a high rate of pseudarthrosis. The main benefits appeared to be the ability to stabilize neuromuscular patients without the use of external immbolization, and the correction of thoracic lordosis.