Pulmonary function before and after surgical correction of scoliosis

Abstract

As one of the restrictive lung diseases, scoliosis can be treated by surgical intervention to enhance the pulmonary function of that group of patients. The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of scoliosis correction on pulmonary function after a 6-month duration. Around 30 patients with scoliosis were aged between 10 and 40 years old subjecting to posterior spinal fusion surgery who had been enrolled in the study; all of them were subjected to Cobb’s angle measuring and pulmonary function test before and 6 months after the operation. Cobb’s angle before the operation was 57.3 ± 13.6°, which significantly corrected and reached up to 21.2 ± 7.2° postoperatively with a mean difference of about 36.13°, P < 0.001. The correlation of Cobb’s angle, forced vital capacity (FVC%), and vital capacity (VC%) was significantly negative. Pulmonary function showed restrictive pattern; forced vital capacity “FVC”, forced expiratory volume 1 “FEV1”, vital capacity “VC”, and forced expiratory flow “FEF 25–75%” were 62.4± 18.06, 65.6±20, 60.7±17.8, and 79.6±28.5, respectively; after 6 months, the reading changed to 60.9± 17.9, 64.04±19.3, 59.16±17.5, and 80.26±28.02 respectively with an insignificant difference, P>0.05. The pulmonary function showed insignificant changes after 6 months of operation, despite significant changes in Cobb’s angle while the preoperative FVC and VC were inversely correlated with it.