Health-related quality-of-life scores, spine-related symptoms, and reoperations in young adults 7 to 17 years after surgical treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

The goal of surgical treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is to prevent disability associated with curve progression. Few investigators have considered whether the function of patients with AIS becomes adversely affected by major spine fusion surgery. Tertiary referral center patients (age, 10-17 years) who underwent spinal deformity correction a minimum of 5 years earlier were identified. Scoliosis Research Society-22R (SRS-22R) and Short Form-12 (SF-12) were administered. Data were available for 118 patients. Mean age was 14.1 years at surgery and 26.8 years at follow-up. Mean outcome scores were 50.9 (SF-12 physical composite summary), 49.4 (SF-12 mental composite summary), and 4.0 (SRS-22R total). One hundred patients (85%) were working. Common symptoms included occasional back pain (90, 76%), limited range of motion (52, 44%), activity limitations (54, 46%), waistline imbalance (41, 35%), rib prominence (28, 24%), wound/scar problems (18, 15%), and shortness of breath (18, 15%). Prominent implants were reported by 11 patients (9%). Seven of 14 reoperations were for instrumentation removal. There was a high incidence of occasional back pain and activity complaints after surgery for AIS in our cohort. However, normal SF-12 scores suggested that these symptoms did not lower the patients' general health.