Anterior and posterior spinal fusion for paralytic scoliosis.

Twenty-three patients with paralytic scoliosis were treated with a combination of anterior and posterior spinal instrumentation and fusion. The sequence was anterior surgery first in 19 patients and posterior surgery first in 4. The average age was 14.4 years. Preoperative correction with a halo-hoop apparatus was performed in 12 patients. The average preoperative curve for the group measured 100 degrees, and the average postoperative curve at a mean follow-up time of 21 months was 37 degrees. The mean loss of correction was 8 degrees. Although superior hook dislodgment occurred in 5 patients, no pseudarthrosis or beinding of the fusion mass was documented.