• Giovanni Barbanti Bròdano, Silvia Terzi, Alessandro Gasbarrini, Stefano Bandiera, Christiano Simoes, and Stefano Boriani.
• Department of Oncologic and Degenerative Spine Surgery, Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute, via G.C. Pupilli 1, 40136, Bologna, Italy, giovanni@barbantibrodano.com.
• Eur Spine J. 2013 Nov 1;22 Suppl 6:S795-802.

PurposeThe surgical approach to adult spine deformities is complex and presents a high incidence of complications.MethodsWe report here a prospective consecutive case series analysis of 20 patients submitted to posterior correction and instrumented fusion for adult degenerative scoliosis. Clinical outcomes were assessed by self-reported measures. Pre-operative and post-operative complications were analysed during a mean 30-month follow-up period.ResultsEleven patients (55 %) presented pre-operative or post-operative complications. Fifteen different complications occurred, six in the early pre-operative period and nine during follow-up period: ten of these complications occurred in patients who underwent a previous surgery for spine disease.ConclusionsThe clinical improvement at the final follow-up resulted as statistically significant only for the group of patients exposed to posterior fusion without interbody fusion. The observations reported here have to be considered for a shared decision-making in the management of adult scoliosis.

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