The use of fulcrum bending films in anterior thoracic correction of scoliosis

The use of bending films is well established in scoliosis surgery. The technique has been refined by Cheung et al(1) using a fulcrum. Luk(2) has shown that in posterior surgery, the correction achieved can be predicted by fulcrum bending films. The relevance to anterior correction has been disputed, as this commonly involves shortening the spine by the removal of intervertebral discs. The aim of the study was to see whether the preoperative bending angle reflected the degree of correction achieved.\ud DISCUSSION In our series, fulcrum bending films have been significantly predictive of the correction achieved following anterior endoscopic surgery. The correction rate of 60.1% is in keeping with other series. In addition, the FBCI was 107%, implying that the anterior instrumentation had corrected slightly beyond the flexibility achieved at the time of the preoperative bending films. We conclude that the use of preoperative bending films is significantly predictive of correction achieved in anterior surgery, however one can expect a small additional correction due to the discectomy