Gastrostomy tubes or equivalent invasive nutritional support devices are an important component for maintaining appropriate nutrition for children with cerebral palsy who have oromotor dysfunction.  Although these interventions have been shown to produce positive influences on the child’s health and nutrition status, they have also been associated with increased complication rates following spinal deformity surgery. Understanding the current status of the literature on this topic as well as the gaps in knowledge are crucial to gaining a thorough understanding of the role of these feeding devices in the postoperative complication profile for these at-risk patients and avenues for future research efforts.

Numerous articles have reported the presence of intraspinal anomalies in children with early onset scoliosis (EOS) and have found varying effect of neurosurgical intervention on the risk of spinal deformity progression.  However, no study to date has performed a detailed analysis of the implications of intraspinal anomalies on scoliotic development and the implications of neurosurgical intervention on curve progression in children with EOS.  This article reviewed the relevant information as it pertains to children < 10 years of age with scoliosis associated with tethered cord, syringomyelia, and Arnold-Chiari (Chiari) malformations. The influence of aspect of the spinal anomaly of spinal deformity is reviewed as well as the identification of risk factors for curve progression following neurosurgical intervention.