Pulmonary function after thoracoplasty and posterior correction in scoliosis

English Keywords:Scoliosis  Thoracoplasty  Pulmonary function

English Abstract:

  【Abstract】 Objective：To investigate the pulmonary function after thoracoplasty and posterior correction in scoliosis.Method：From January 2007 to December 2009，A total of 30（12 males and 18 females） consecutive scoliosis patients with the Cobb angle over 70 degrees were recruited for this study.All patients with the mean age of 18.8±6.2 years old underwent posterior correction and thoracoplasty on the convex side.The absolute and percent predicted values of vital capacity（VC），forced vital capacity（FVC），and forced expiratory volume in 1 second（FEV1） were evaluated by pulmonary function test.All these PFT parameters were collected before and 3 to 24 months after correction.Result：After surgery，the coronal Cobb angles decreased from 101.0°±19.9°（range，70°-140°） to 53.0°±20.9° with a correction rate of 49.2％.At the 3th month follow-up，the absolute values of VC，FVC and FEV1 decreased 15.0％，16.5% and 12.7% respectively，while the percent predicted values of VC，FVC and FEV1 decreased 15.8%，17.3% and 13.1% respectively.All the parameters of the pulmonary function demonstrated a slight increase.8 cases with 2-year follow-up had parameters a little bit higher than preoperative baseline，with no statistical significance（P>0.05）.The increased absolute values and percent-predicted values of these parameters were associated with recovery time after operation.Conclusion：The short-term pulmonary function decreases after thoracoplasty and posterior correction in scoliosis patients，however gradually returns to baseline with time going.