I just thought I would throw some of these stats out there for lively discussion.

"There is no evidence that the long-term effects of scoliosis surgery are superoir to the long-term effects of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis itself....The main indication for surgical invervention in patients with AIS is cosmetic. However spinal surgery may along with other negative side effects, actually cause postoperative clinical deterioration."

Patient safety in Surgery 2007; 1:7

"Despite good long-term outcomes (huh?), 40% of operated treated patients with idopathic scoliosis are legally defined as severely handicapped persons"

Z Orthop 2002; 140: 492-498

"limitation of sexual function because of back problems was admitted by 33% of the surgically treated patients, and 15% of the control group"

Spine 2001; 26: 1449-1456

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Originally Posted by DrStitzel

"Despite good long-term outcomes (huh?), 40% of operated treated patients with idopathic scoliosis are legally defined as severely handicapped persons"

Ha ha ha I found the quote with that statistic pretty funny!

I was wondering what about the Orthobiom? You know the internal brace, it's a surgical method but doesn't involve fusion, and can be taken out years down the road. Would it be considered a cure that's worse than the untreated curvature itself?

Originally Posted by DrStitzel

I just thought I would throw some of these stats out there for lively discussion.

"limitation of sexual function because of back problems was admitted by 33% of the surgically treated patients, and 15% of the control group"

Spine 2001; 26: 1449-1456

"Limitation of sexual function from the back was admitted by 33% of the surgically treated, 28% of the brace-treated, and 15% of the control women: surgically treated vs control subjects (P = 0.0042), brace-treated vs control subjects (P = 0.026), and brace-treated vs surgically treated subjects (P = 0.57, a nonsignificant difference). These limitations were largely because of difficulties participating physically in activities or self-consciousness about appearance. Pain was a minor reason for limitation."

"Some patients, however, experienced a slight negative effect in their sexual life."

http://journals.lww.com/spinejournal...Sexual.15.aspx

Hi Bambi,

"Some patients, however, experienced a slight negative effect in their sexual life." -- I wonder if the patients felt this way or is that just the researcher’s opinion? It’s kind of like the statement made in the study quoted just above the sexual dysfunction stat quote.

"Despite good long-term outcomes (huh?), 40% of operated treated patients with idiopathic scoliosis are legally defined as severely handicapped persons"

How can they conclude good long-term outcomes when in the next part of the same sentence they discuss how 40% of the patients were defined as severely handicapped with in 17 years post op. Is that kind of like the heart surgeon describing the by-pass surgery as successful even though the patient died? I'm not dense and I know what they are getting at in terms of defining a "successful" procedure, but I can't help but to think the patient's best interest is getting lost in the process somewhere.

Who knows, maybe I am just being dense.....or perhaps even obtuse.......could even be both!