Scheuermann's juvenile kyphosis. A histologic study

The case histories and gross and microscopic findings of two adolescent patients with Scheuermann's kyphosis demonstrate that the anterior longitudinal ligament is bowstrung across the apex of the hyphosis. The microscopic findings include markedly irregular end plates and end plate disruption with protrusion of disk material into the vertebral body. The ring apophysis does not show avascular necrosis. The intervertebral disk is interpreted as normal both by routine histology and electron microscopy. It is postulated that Scheuermann's kyphosis may be secondary to vertebral osteoporosis occurring during the juvenile period rather than to an intrinsic abnormality in the intervertebral disk or ring apophysis.

Scheuermann's kyphosis. Results of surgical treatment by posterior spine arthrodesis in twenty-two patients

Twenty-two patients with Scheuermann's kyphosis were treated with correction, Harrington instrumentation (in twenty-one), and posterior spine fusion. This procedure relieved pain and corrected deformity in all patients but loss of correction of 5 degrees or more occurred in sixteen of the twenty-two patients, including all those whose initial kyphosis was greater than 70 degrees. The incidence of complications was so high that this procedure should ordinarily be performed only for disabling pain or spinal cord compression.

Surgical appraoches to the anterior aspect of the spinal column

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