Pediatric cervical spine instability treatment

A study described new perioperative neurological deficits in pediatric cervical spine instrumentation and fusion.An improvement of the preexisting neurological deficit or stabilization of neurological function was seen in 96.7% of children after cervical spine fusion. New or progressive neurological deficits occurred in 3.3% of the patients and occurred more frequently in children with preoperative neurological symptoms. Patients with syndromic diagnoses are at higher risk to develop a deficit, probably due to the severity of deformity and the degree of cervical spine instability. Long-term outcomes of new neurological deficits are favorable, and 50% of patients experienced complete neurological recovery within 6 months ¹⁾.