Spine surgery for scoliosis

My daughter had this surgery at Johns Hopkins over the summer prior to her first year of high school. She was able to return to school but allowed to take the elevator instead of stairs until she was healed. She played lacross and did cheerleading. She is now married and in her early 40s, with 4 children, and a nurse. Over the years she's had some troubles due to her job at the time entailed lifting a lot. Other than that, she's been ok. Of course airports have to know she has a rod in her back but she's traveled inside and outside of the US without issue. Oh, and she gained an inch in height after the surgery. Lol! Hope it goes as well for you! God bless!

@loismae59 I wanted to welcome you to Connect. Surgery for scoliosis involving rods attached to the spine is an extensive surgery and would be done by a spine deformity specialist. I am a Mayo spine surgery patient, and my surgeon is a deformity specialist. That wasn't what I needed. My surgery was for cervical stenosis. I have discussed with another patient here on Connect who was getting some different opinions at Mayo about deformity surgery. This post and those after it have some details about the surgical plan that can give you some information about how these cases are handled.

With scoliosis that needs surgical correction, sometimes a pie shaped piece can be cut from the vertebrae to change the angle as it relates to the next bone in the spine and it is secured with screws and rods and heals together. The surgeon needs to get the curve in the spine closer to normal and the spine should not curve sideways. All of that needs to be calculated mathematically when a surgical plan is designed for spine deformity surgery. Sometimes they make a 3 D printed model to study the case and refer to that during surgery. Of course, any fusing of the spine or placement of rods changes the spines ability to flex and move. That could affect walking if the pelvis and spine can no longer move in concert with each other. A patient may not have normal movement to begin with if there is a spine deformity. I don't have that experience myself with only a single level fused in my neck.

Here is some more about scoliosis. Dr. Fogelson in the video was my surgeon.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-professionals/neurology-neurosurgery/videos/adult-scoliosis-diagnosis-and-treatment-options/vid-20527937

I have severe scoliosis. I wanted to know if fibre is now used instead of a rod!

Rita

Hi @jenniferhunter,
Just wanted to thank you for all your work you do on this Mayo forum. I appreciate the links and suggestions you provide.

@paige1616 Rita, that's a great question, and I didn't know, but I did some digging and found literature talking about materials used in spine surgery implants and rods. This is a good conversation to have with a sine specialist, but keep in mind, surgeons have preferred hardware that they are trained on and use regularly, and they may not offer all the options that are out there. There is always research ongoing about new hardware to solve spine problems and it is talked about at the spine surgery conventions attended by the surgeons.

They have used PEEK which creates a rod that is semi rigid as opposed to Titanium rods that are rigid, and there is also mention of PEEK rods reinforced with carbon fiber which are described more than just PEEK rods alone. There are studies about the stresses of rods when placed in the spine measured in tests on animal cadaver spines, and there are studies of the carbon fiber+PEEK rods vs. titanium outcomes for people who have have them implanted during spine surgery. The PEEK rods are described as "stress shielding" or simply put, a bit of flexibility so as not to transfer the force as heavily onto the next segment of the spine that is not fixed, ie. the adjacent segment that can wear out from increased stresses.

The advantage of PEEK (a type of plastic) and carbon fiber+PEEK in implants is that it is supposed to be inert in the body and it is radiolucent which means that it doesn't interfere with imaging or treatments involving radiation for example something like the Proton beam used in cancer treatment for inoperable tumors. Some literature describes treatment of spine tumors and how PEEK implants allow the proton beam radiation to focus on an area without interference. Titanium metal implants cause shadowing on an MR imaging creating artifacts in the imaging like dark areas and scattering of radiation.

Here are a few of the links I found in case you are interested. There are many more links at the end for studies that are cited in the literature.

Are you currently seeing a specialist for your scoliosis and considering surgery?

Jennifer

@ginginrummy Thank you so much! I worked in university research for a neuro-anatomist many years ago, and added to that I have my own experience with spine surgery and I looked up everything I could. It is nice to be appreciated!

Hi gin gin rummy,
Could you share a little bit about your spine surgery?
How painful it was after? How long was the recovery? How are you doing today?Did it improve your life?
I am older and my curve is so bad. Not sure anyone will consider operating. The operator is 20 hrs with a stay in the hospital between 7 & 9 months..Can’t se myself handling that! I know Manitoba, Canada Dr. Are reluctant in doing it. Now I am going to see what the US offers with the help of the Specialist & My M.D. from Manitoba. Canada now will pay to get this surgery done outside the country.

Grateful
Rita