LAUSR

To the Editor: There is a high probability of requiring unplanned surgery for congenital scoliosis (CS), but very few publications have reported the proportion of unplanned surgeries, the causes of those unplanned surgeries, and the prevalence of each cause. This study aimed to provide more information regarding the above. We reviewed the electronic medical records of patients with CS that underwent unplanned surgeries at our hospital from 2009 to 2018. By searching the database of West China Hospital, we found 317 CS cases. Of these, 33 cases underwent unplanned surgeries, of which five had their primary surgeries at outside hospitals. The unplanned surgery rate in our case series was 9.0% (28/312). In our case series, the most common cause of unplanned surgery for patients with CS was progressive deformity (49%, 16/33), followed by implant-related complications (36%, 12/33), wound-related complications (12%, 4/33), and surgical error-related complications (cerebrospinal fluid [CSF] leak, 3%, 1/33). The most common reason for unplanned surgery in CS was progressive spinal deformity or imbalance, which accounted for 49% (16/33) of the unplanned surgeries.