Postoperative pulmonary complications following posterior spinal instrumentation and fusion for congenital scoliosis

Background Congenital scoliosis (CS) may lead to more serious pulmonary complications compared with idiopathic scoliosis after spinal fusion surgery. However, little has been reported about postoperative pulmonary complication events in patients with CS after spinal fusion surgery. Objective To investigate the incidence of and predictive factors of postoperative pulmonary complications following posterior spinal instrumentation and fusion surgery for the treatment of CS. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the records of 174 patients with CS (128 females and 46 males, mean age 16.4 years) treated with posterior spinal instrumentation and fusion surgery between January 2012 and April 2017. We extracted demographic, medical history, and clinical data, and investigated the major predictive factors for postoperative pulmonary complications by logistic regression and receiver-operating characteristic curves analyses. Results A total of 26 (14.9%) patients developed postoperative pulmonary complications, consisting of pleural effusion (10.9%), pneumonia (6.9%), pneumothorax (1.1%), atelectasis (2.3%), hypoxemia (6.3%), and respiratory failure (1.1%). Logistic regression analysis revealed that the predictive factors for postoperative pulmonary complications were age > 18.1 years (P = 0.039), a Cobb angle of > 77° (P = 0.011), operation time of > 430 min (P = 0.032), and blood transfusion volume > 1500 ml (P = 0.015). Conclusions Postoperative pulmonary complications are among the main complications following posterior spinal instrumentation and fusion surgery in patients with CS. Such patients aged >18.1 years, with Cobb angles > 77°, operation times > 430 min, and/or blood transfusion volume of > 1500 ml may be more likely to develop postoperative pulmonary complications.