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The Position of the Aorta Changes With Altered Body Position in Single Right Thoracic Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study
Spine, 08/09/2012
Jiang H et al. – The aorta shifts more anteromedially and more closely to the spine at the T5–T10 levels when patients with right thoracic adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (RT–AIS) change from the supine to the prone position. Thus, in the prone position, the aorta is potentially at a higher risk for injury from anterior and lateral cortex penetration by the left pedicle screws. The spinal surgeon should be aware of these altered conditions to avoid injury to the aorta during pedicle screw insertion in patients with RT–AIS who are in the prone position.
