Importance of the Sagittal Plane in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis

Significant attention has been focused on techniques to improve the coronal plane correction of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS); however, coronal correction is often obtained at the expense of sagittal malalignment following posterior spinal fusion for AIS. Problematic acute surgical complications (proximal or distal junctional kyphosis/failure) and long-term complications (flatback, disc degeneration, cervical kyphosis) may occur if thoracic kyphosis and sagittal alignment is not restored during operative intervention for AIS. This webinar will define typical sagittal alignment in AIS, address the sequelae of both early and late iatrogenic sagittal imbalance, and highlight surgical decision making and techniques which optimize restoration of normal sagittal alignment during surgical treatment of AIS. Learning Objectives: 1. Understand the clinical and radiographic assessment of global sagittal balance in normal and scoliotic patient populations in order to enable preoperative planning for optimal surgical restoration of sagittal balance in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. 2. Recognize the potential early and late sequelae of iatrogenic thoracic hypokyphosis and sagittal imbalance and address surgical decision making and techniques to minimize these complications. 3. Familiarize surgeons with preoperative planning and intraoperative techniques which enable optimization of surgical restoration of normal thoracic kyphosis and sagittal alignment.