Minimally invasive surgery using posterior-only Pedicle screw fixation in treatment of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) techniques for posterior spine pedicle-screw fusion (PSF) may reduce the AIS surgery invasiveness, although they require a certain degree of patient selection based on the severity of the curve. The aim of this article is to systematically review the Literature to determine efficacy and safety of MISPSF in AIS correction, and to compare its outcomes with open-PSF. A systematic search of electronic databases from eligible articles was conducted. Only studies adopting MIS-PSF for AIS were included. Clinical and radiographic outcomes were extracted and summarized. Meta-analyses were performed. P-value < 0.05 was considered significant. Thirteen studies for a total of 635 patients ungergoing MIS-PSF were included in this review. Pre-operative Cobb's angle ranged from 48.3. +/- 4.2. to 59.8. +/- 6.6., coronal correction from 58.1% to 79.1%, average operative time ranged from 252 to 526.8 min, average estimated blood loss from 138.8 +/- 50 to 1250 mL. Sixty-seven complications were recorded (9.9%), with 19 revisions (3.8%), resulting similar to those described in Literature using open-PSF. At meta-analysis, MIS-PSF (321 patients) compared to open-PSF (429 patients) showed lower coronal correction (although no statistically significant difference was found), estimated blood loss and length of hospital stay, but higher operative time. No differences in SRS-22, complications and revision rate were found. In conclusion, open-PSF shows a trend towards higher correction in the coronal plane and requires a shorter operative time when compared to MIS-PSF. It remains the gold standard for AIS correction, although MIS-PSF seems to be a viable and promising technique for selected patients.