Does Body Mass Index Affect Outcomes After Vertebral Body Tethering Surgery?

Description

The presentation, delivered by Amir Mishreky, is about a research study that examines the impact of Body Mass Index (BMI) on the correction rates of scoliosis after a surgical procedure known as vertebral body tethering (VBT). The study aimed to determine how varying BMI levels affect both the correction effectiveness and complication rates in patients diagnosed with juvenile and adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.



Amir begins by explaining their hypothesis that a higher BMI might correlate with lower initial correction rates and increased complication rates following the procedure. They utilized a retrospective analysis of a pediatric spine database that included pre-operative, post-operative, and two-year follow-up data on patients’ scoliosis curvatures and kyphosis metrics, categorized based on BMI percentiles defined by the CDC.



The results indicated that, while the surgical intervention led to noticeable improvements in scoliosis over a two-year period, BMI did not significantly affect the outcomes for correction rates or complication rates. Notably, overweight patients exhibited a trend towards poorer scoliosis outcomes post-surgery compared to those in the underweight and normal weight categories. The study ultimately suggests that VBT may be less effective for overweight patients in achieving further scoliosis correction within two years after surgery, raising concerns about the procedure's efficacy for this demographic.

DOI: 10.1302/3114-220834

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