Seok Sang-yoon, Director of the Spine Center at Busan Bummin Hospital (Department of Orthopedic Surgery), has published significant research on the prognostic factors for surgery in patients with degenerative spinal deformity—a condition commonly associated with the "hunched" posture often seen in the elderly.
The study was published in the prestigious neurosurgery journal Neurosurgery, a top-tier SCIE-level publication. Established in 1977 as the official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), it is a leading global resource in the field with a 5-year impact factor of approximately 4.3.
The paper, titled "Fusion Construct Settling Down After Deformity Correction for Degenerative Sagittal Imbalance," was a collaborative effort with Professor Hwang Chang-joo of Asan Medical Center. Director Seok Sang-yoon served as the corresponding author.
The research team analyzed the "fusion construct settling" phenomenon that occurs following corrective surgery in patients with degenerative sagittal imbalance. Specifically, they investigated the prevalence and causes of the reduction in lumbar lordosis (the inward curve of the lower spine) following combined anterior and posterior surgical approaches. This condition is primarily observed in elderly patients suffering from degenerative kyphosis.
The findings revealed that the primary cause of lumbar lordosis reduction was not damage to the vertebral endplate or cage settling—issues typically observed after anterior and posterior procedures. Instead, the study showed that lordosis reduction occurred more frequently within the first three months post-surgery when procedures included a posterior osteotomy.
These results suggest that surgeons must exercise caution and account for this settling effect when establishing preoperative plans for lordosis correction.
“Recently, there has been a great deal of interest in the prognostic factors for treating degenerative kyphosis—often referred to as 'hunchback disease' in the elderly—as a distinct field from adolescent idiopathic scoliosis,” Director Seok stated on the 6th. “Accountability for these prognostic factors during the planning stage can be a vital tool for surgeons to improve long-term outcomes.”
