Study design: Case series.
Purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate the change in pulmonary function in adult patients with a spinal deformity who underwent spinal corrective surgery.
Overview of literature: Degenerative lumbar and/or thoraco-lumbar deformities are is often prominent in adult spinal deformity cases, whereas a thoracic deformity involving the chest wall is inconspicuous. A lumbar spine deformity could affect the pulmonary function; however, few reports have investigated pulmonary function in adult patients with a spinal deformity.
Methods: This study included 14 adult patients with a spinal deformity who underwent posterior corrective fusion (3 males, 11 females; mean age, 67.4 years). We measured percent vital capacity (%VC) and percent forced expiratory volume in 1 second (%FEV1) before surgery and six months after surgery. We investigated the change in pulmonary function after corrective surgery and the correlation between radiographic parameters and pulmonary function.
Results: Mean preoperative %VC and %FEV1 values were 99.9% and 79.3%, respectively. Two cases were diagnosed with restrictive impairment, and two cases were diagnosed with obstructive impairment before surgery. %VC improved in the restrictive impairment cases six months after surgery. However, %FEV1 did not improve significantly after surgery in the obstructive impairment cases.
Conclusions: Restrictive impairment was improved in adult patients with a spinal deformity by corrective spinal surgery. However, spinal surgery did not improve obstructive impairment.
Keywords: Adult spinal deformity; Obstructive impairment; Pulmonary function; Restrictive impairment.