Anterior vertebral body tethering as a treatment for scoliosis in skeletally immature patients

A relatively new surgical procedure called Anterior Vertebral Body Tethering (AVBT) is used to treat scoliosis in patients with immature skeletons. It is a growth modulation fusionless system that Crowford and Lenke first described in 2010. We present our observations from 25 patients. Improvement in the mean coronal Cobb angle, from mean 57° preoperative to mean 34° postoperative, was 40%. Additionally, we noted that the mean thoracic hypokyphosis improved from 16° to 24° on average after surgery. Complication rates were 16% and surgical revision rates were 12%. All patients who demonstrated improvement in pain, function, and self-image underwent administration of the SRS-24 questionnaire. These data, according to the literature, show that AVBT is a reliable technique that enables scoliosis correction in skeletally immature patients and maintains that correction while utilizing remaining growth potential to achieve further correction, avoiding spinal fusion, and maintaining spine mobility.