Long-term results of spinal instrumentation surgery for scoliosis five years or more after surgery, in patients over twenty-three years of age.

From 1967 to 1981, 311 scoliotic patients treated at Chiba University, with a minimum follow-up of 5 years and aged more than 23 years, were selected for this study. Seventy-two were males and 239 were females, whose age at operation ranged from 9 to 44 years, with an average of 16.5 years. The operative procedures were one-stage Harrington procedure in 179 cases, staged procedure in 108 cases, anterior procedure in 20 cases, and combined anteroposterior fusion in four cases. Including 198 patients examined physically, a total of 263 patients (54 males and 209 females) have responded to a questionnaire or were interviewed by telephone. In general, 85% of the patients were satisfied with the result of the operation for the control of spinal deformity, improvement of the cosmesis, and increase in physical and social activity.