Ponte Osteotomies Increase the Risk of Neuromonitoring Alerts in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Correction Surgery

Study Design. Observational cohort study of prospective database registry. Objective. To determine the incidence of neurological complications in AIS patients undergoing surgical treatment with PO. Summary of Background Data. Despite the widespread use of Ponte Osteotomies (PO) in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) correction, outcomes and complications in patients treated with this technique have not been well characterized. Methods. A multicenter prospective registry of patients undergoing surgical correction of AIS was queried at 2-year follow-up for patient demographics, surgical data, deformity characteristics, and peri-operative complications. A neurological complication was defined as perioperative nerve root or spinal cord injury as identified by the surgeon. Patients were divided into those who underwent peri-apical PO and those without, and further stratified by Lenke curve classification into 3 groups (Itypes 1 and 2, II-types 3, 4, 6, and III-type 5). Patients with-and without neurological complications were compared with respect to baseline demographics, surgical variables, curve types, fusion construct types (screws vs. hybrid), curve magnitude (coronal and sagittal Cobb), apical vertebral translation, and coronaldeformity angular ratios (C-DAR). Results. Of 2210 patients included in the study, 1611 underwent PO. Peri-operative neurological complications occurred in 7 patients, with 6 in the PO group (0.37%) and 1 in non-PO group (0.17%) though this was not a statistically significant risk factor for peri-operative neurological injury (P = 0.45). Neuromonitoring alerts were recorded in 168 patients (7.6%: 9.3% PO group; 4.2% no-PO group (P < 0.001)). Multivariate logistic regression analysis found PO and curve magnitude to be independent risk factors for intraoperative neuromonitoring alerts (P< 0.01). Conclusion. PO and curve magnitude were independent risk factors for intraoperative neuromonitoring alerts in surgical AIS correction. The effect of Ponte osteotomy on neurological complications remains unknown due to the low incidence of these complications.