Abstract
First utilized in spine surgery in the late 1980s, the Ponte osteotomy is a method of surgically shortening the posterior column in order to obtain greater corrective power in the management of kyphosis or kyphoscoliosis. It is accomplished by removal of bone around the articulation of spinal facet joints, which alters the mechanical axis of rotation and enables greater deformity correction potential. This procedure is performed in the following steps: (1) a posterior midline incision is made in order to expose and clear soft tissues from the desired surgical site; (2) the spinous process and base of the lamina are removed to allow for better visualization and working space; (3) the inferior facet is excised, followed by (4) removal of the superior facet and the (5) ligamentum flavum. If performed correctly, this procedure should allow for appropriate deformity correction and the ability to place desired instrumentation without problems.
Published outcomes of this procedure can be found at: Spine Deform. 2018;6(1):2-11, J Spinal Disord Tech. 2013 Jul;26(5):252-5, and J Spinal Disord Tech. 2007 Dec;20(8):586-93.
Investigation performed at Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
Disclosure: The authors indicated that no external funding was received for any aspect of this work. On the Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest forms, which are provided with the online version of the article, one or more of the authors checked “yes” to indicate that the author had a relevant financial relationship in the biomedical arena outside the submitted work (http://links.lww.com/JBJSEST/A304).
References
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