Role of rod diameter in comparison between only screws versus hooks and screws in posterior instrumentation of thoracic curve in idiopathic scoliosis

Evaluation of correction rates for titanium-alloy and cobalt-chrome-alloy rods in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis

“…Experimental and clinical studies based on the effect of different rod diameters (and resultant different stiffness) for the correction of scoliotic curves have also not been able to conclusively establish the effect of rod rigidity on magnitude of curve correction. [4][5][6][7][8] Lamartina et al analyzed the correction rate in AIS patients using a pedicle screw or hybrid system that employed hook and screw concomitantly and reported the correction rate to be better with the hybrid system, owing to the use of thicker rods. 4 However, this study was limited by the fact that it did not exclusively study pedicle screw constructs and also was not supported by a concrete statistical analysis.…”

“…[4][5][6][7][8] Lamartina et al analyzed the correction rate in AIS patients using a pedicle screw or hybrid system that employed hook and screw concomitantly and reported the correction rate to be better with the hybrid system, owing to the use of thicker rods. 4 However, this study was limited by the fact that it did not exclusively study pedicle screw constructs and also was not supported by a concrete statistical analysis. Prince et al analyzed the radiographic outcomes of patients who underwent scoliosis surgery using different rod diameters constructs by posterior approach.…”

“…1 Various issues affect the ability of spine surgeons to achieve these goals, including patient-related factors and surgical factors such as type of device used, rod type, and technique used to achieve curve correction. [2][3][4][5][6] Of these two considerations, surgical factors can be controlled and thus are modifiable. The medical community has been striving to continuously improve the available instrumentation, so as to come up with better, safer, and stronger implants.As spinal implants evolved, the pedicle screw-rod system has proven its efficiency due to a strong pull-out force and three-column fixation, and it has become accepted as the state-of-art technique for posterior spinal fixation.…”

How is the trachea at risk of injury from pedicle screw insertion in proximal thoracic curve of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients?

“…The use of thoracic pedicle screw (TPS) is becoming increasingly popular in the surgical treatments of patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) [2,11,13,18]. Although numerous advantages of the TPS have been reported, there have been some concerns about the potential neurological, vascular and visceral complications resulted from screw misplacements [5,14,16].…”