Your child’s scoliosis specialist may recommend one of the following procedures:
Definitive fusion: The traditional and most common type of surgical procedure to treat adolescent scoliosis. Small pieces of bone, usually taken from the patient’s lower spine, as well as metal rods and screws are implanted to realign and fuse together the curved vertebrae so that they heal into a single, solid bone to correct and stabilize the deformity.
Vertebral body tethering: An innovative, less invasive surgical procedure using an implanted rope-like device that can adjust bone growth of the spine during the period of rapid growth spurts when adolescent spinal curvature typically progresses.
In addition to definitive fusion, procedures to treat EOS include:
Guided growth treatment: Anchors are placed in the top, middle and bottom on both sides of the spine and connected by rods. The rods slide within the anchors while guiding the spine into straighter position as the patient grows.
Traditional distraction-based treatment: An initial surgery is performed to implant a growing rod(s) on the spine to gain control over the deformity. As the child grows, usually twice a year, the doctor will manipulate the rod through a small incision to straighten and lengthen the spine. This is done under general anesthesia.
