Pediatric Scoliosis Surgery

Scoliosis surgery is an operation to correct a spinal curvature that is severe enough to affect a child’s growth and lung function. Spinal curvatures greater than 45-50 degrees can progress irreversibly into adulthood. Riley at IU Health pediatric orthopedic surgeons consider your child’s age and severity of scoliosis prior to forming his or her specific treatment plan.

Sometimes a curvature in the spine is so serious that it requires surgery. This isn’t very common, but if your spine could eventually grow so curved that it will affect your breathing, your doctor will correct the curvature in surgery.
Pediatric Orthopedic doctor

View Child-Friendly Explanation

What is Scoliosis Surgery

The most common form of pediatric scoliosis surgery is spinal fusion. In this surgery, your child’s spine is reset into proper alignment and held in place with rods. This surgery is typically done once your child has reached their adult height and is done growing. Children with progressive scoliosis who still have several years of growth remaining are often given scoliosis casting or bracing – or even growth-friendly surgical rods – to prevent the curvature from worsening excessively until your child is old enough for spinal fusion surgery.

How is Scoliosis Surgery Performed

Your child’s scoliosis surgery team has specialty training in spinal surgery and includes:

Anesthesiologists
Nurses
Neuromonitoring staff
Orthopedic surgeons
X-ray technicians

During the surgery, the anesthesiologist will put your child to sleep, and then highly trained neuro-monitoring technicians will connect your child to electrodes, which are little needles inserted into the back while your child is asleep. These electrodes work like your child’s avatar, telling the surgeon which muscles and nerves are working while he or she is asleep.

During spinal fusion surgery:

The surgeon makes an incision down to the backbone and may perform osteotomies –the removal of bone to loosen up the spine in order to straighten it.
The surgeon inserts rods into the spine to straighten the bones and then fits the rods with screws.
Once the rods are in place, a bone graft is used to weld the spine into its corrected position.
The incision is closed carefully with dissolvable sutures to minimize scarring.

What to Expect After Scoliosis Surgery

Once your child wakes up from surgery, you will meet the spine pain team of physicians, nurses, and physical therapists who will begin Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) - a protocol created at Riley at IU Health. These highly trained specialists work to improve pain control while reducing opioid consumption. Data from the ERAS program shows patients feel better and need fewer narcotics. The program is now becoming popular at other hospitals based on the success at Riley at IU Health.

By using ERAS following surgery, you can expect:

Your child will be in the hospital 1-2 days.
Your child will get out of bed the day after surgery and begin working with a physical therapist. The sooner patients are out of bed, the sooner they return to normal routines.
Your child will be out of school for two weeks.
In six weeks, your child may return low-impact sports like swimming and practice drills.
After three months, your child can return to full activity, even riding roller coasters.

Key Points to Remember

Risks from spinal surgery are very low at high-volume centers like Riley at IU Health.
Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) helps your child return to a regular routine as soon as possible.
Patients return to school in two weeks, sports in six weeks and regular routines in three months.