Evaluating patient specific rods in adult spinal deformity surgery using patient reported outcome measures: a prospective observational study.

Abstract

Surgical intervention for ASD is widely accepted, after non-operative management, to correct deformity and improve disability. A relatively new surgical technique utilized pre-bent patient-specific rods (PSR). These have been developed with software allowing preoperative deformity correction planning and provide the surgeon with an intraoperative deformity correction consistent with the surgical plan. Notably, there are reduced operation times because PSR do not require contouring during surgery which results in less rod microfractures and decreased fatigue-life. The literature surrounding PSR surgery lacks reporting on PROMs and rather focuses on radiological outcomes. Aim: To report clinical outcomes using PSR, comparing pre-operative to post-operative PROMs to mid-term follow-up. Specifically, we investigated rates of junctional complications both proximally (kyphosis/failure) and distally (failure).