Clinical Application and Curative Effect Analysis of Postural Awareness Surgical Tool Assisted Nail Placement in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis

Abstract

Objective

The pedicle screw technique has been widely used in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis orthopedic surgery, but misplacement of screws may damage important structures such as blood vessels and nerves around the pedicle, resulting in serious consequences. Therefore, our research team has independently developed a surgical tool to assist in the placement of pedicle screws. This study aims to investigate the safety and accuracy of postural awareness tool assisted nail placement in orthopedic surgery for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

Method

A retrospective analysis was performed on 24 adolescent patients with idiopathic scoliosis admitted to our hospital from July 2019 to July 2022, including 10 males and 14 females, with an average age of 14.88 ± 2.36 years (10–19 years). The mean follow‐up was 15.67 ± 2.20 months (12–20 months). We divided the patients into postural awareness group ( n = 12) and C‐arm group ( n = 12) according to whether the postural awareness surgical tool was used during the operation. All patients were treated with posterior spinal orthopedic surgery. The postural awareness group was assisted by pedicle screw placement with a postural awareness surgical tool, while the C‐arm group was given a pedicle screw placement with freehand technique. The operative time, intraoperative blood loss, intraoperative fluoroscopy times, nail placement related complications, nail placement accuracy, and scoliosis correction rate were recorded and compared between the two groups.

Results

The operative time, intraoperative blood loss and fluoroscopy times in the postural awareness group were significantly lower than those in the C‐arm group, with statistical significance ( p < 0.05). The postural awareness group implanted 163 screws with an accuracy rate of 91.41%, while the C‐arm group implanted 159 screws with an accuracy rate of 83.02%. The accuracy rate of screw placement in the postural awareness group was higher than that in the C‐arm group, with a statistically significant difference ( p = 0.024). According to the imaging of the patients, there was no significant difference between the Cobb Angle of the main bend measured at three time points before surgery, 1 week after surgery and the last follow‐up between the two groups. Similarly, there was no significant difference in the rate of lateral curvature correction between the two groups.

Conclusion

The application of postural awareness surgical tool in posterior orthopedic surgery for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis can improve screw placement accuracy, shorten screw placement time, and make auxiliary screw placement safer and more accurate.

Abstract

The postural awareness surgical tool consists of two parts: the surgical approach cone with the attitude sensing information module and the corresponding APP software (WTAPP‐release). The application of postural awareness surgical tool in posterior correction of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis can improve the accuracy of screw placement and shorten the time of screw placement.