Pulmonary function after thoracoplasty and posterior correction for thoracic scoliosis patients

Objective: To study the effect of the thoracoplasty on the pulmonary function after the posterior scoliosis correction operation. Methods: From June 2001 to June 2010, 60 thoracic scoliosis patients (24 males, 36 females) were collected. Their average age was 17.6 +/- 5.0 years. All patients underwent posterior 3-dimensional operation and thoracoplasty. The pulmonary function was examined preoperatively, 3 months, and 24 months after the operation. The correlation between the postoperative decrease ratio of pulmonary function parameters and postoperative recovery time was analyzed by Pearson correlations. Results: The average Cobb's angle in the coronal plane was corrected from 99.1 degrees +/- 17.6 degrees preoperatively to 49.8 degrees +/- 11.8 degrees postoperatively, with the average correction ratio of (44.3 +/- 12.6) %. There were significant decrease in the pulmonary function parameters 3 months after the operation [vital capacity (VC), 14.4%; percentage of the VC with measured/predicted value (VC%), 14.7%; forced vital capacity (FVC), 15.7%; percentage of the FVC with measured/predicted value (FVC%), 16.6%; the first second forced expiratory volume (FEV1), 13.2%; the percentage of FEV1 with measured/predicted value (FEV1%), 12.9%] (P < 0.05). The pulmonary function parameters at the last follow-up were slightly higher than the preoperative parameters, but the statistical difference was not significant (P > 0.05). The decrease ratio of postoperative pulmonary function parameters and the postoperative recovery time was positively correlated. Conclusion: The pulmonary function will be decreased obviously after the thoracoplasty and the posterior scoliosis correction operation in the short time, but returns to the normal level after 2 years. (C) 2013 Surgical Associates Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.