title: Twenty-eight-year follow-up of anterior and posterior fusion for congenital kyphosis. A case report.
abstract: METHODS
  Case report and long-term follow-up.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To answer the question of whether the operation performed was worthwhile and lasting.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Congenital kyphosis due to defects of vertebral body formation has a high incidence of paraplegia if not surgically stabilized. Traditional posterior spine fusion failed for such problems.
  
  
  METHODS
  Radiographic and photographic evidence of the patients's problem, the combined anterior and posterior surgery, and at a 28-year follow-up available.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Surgery at age 13 prevented paraplegia, but also gave correction of deformity and permitted a normal life.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Combined anterior and posterior spinal fusion is a good operation with lasting value for this condition.
authors.affiliation: Minnesota Spine Foundation, Minneapolis, USA.
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Winter
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Turek-Shay
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007738:Kyphosis / Q000151:congenital* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D013123:Spinal Fusion; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed