Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Jan 24:4:102749.
doi: 10.1016/j.bas.2024.102749. eCollection 2024.

Term and definition of a deformity after a spine trauma: Results of an international Delphi study

E E A De Gendt  1 , S P J Muijs  1 , L M Benneker  2 , F C Oner  1
Affiliations

Term and definition of a deformity after a spine trauma: Results of an international Delphi study

E E A De Gendt et al. Brain Spine. .

Abstract

Introduction: Deformity of the spinal column after trauma could lead to pain, impaired function, and may sometimes necessitate extensive and high-risk surgery. This 'condition' has multiple terms and definitions that are used in research and clinics. A specific term and definition of this condition however is still lacking. A uniform and internationally accepted term and definition are necessary to compare cases and treatments in the future.

Research question: Reach consensus on the term and definition of this deformity after spine trauma using a Delphi approach.

Material and methods: An 'all-rounds invitation' Delphi process was used in this study among a group of international experts. The first round consisted of an online survey using input from preparatory studies, a typical clinical case and ICD-11 codes. The second round showed the results in-person and discussion was encouraged. Participants voted for rejection of certain terms. In the third round the final vote took place. When >80 % of the votes was for or against a term the term was rejected or accepted.

Results: Response rate was high (≥84 %). The 3 Delphi rounds were completed. Unanimous voting led to the acceptance of the term and abbreviation as PSD. Deformity in any plane, pain, impaired function, and neurological deficit, were deemed important to include in the definition of PSD.

Discussion and conclusion: Unanimous consensus was reached on 'Posttraumatic spinal deformity: Condition where a trauma to the spine results in a deformity in any plane and results in pain and an impaired function with or without a neurological deficit.'

Keywords: Deformity; Impaired function; PSD; Posttraumatic spinal deformity; Spine trauma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:Editorial Capacity of FC Oner in special issue If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart of the ‘all-round invitation’ Delphi process to the definition of posttraumatic spinal deformity.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
This graph depicts the percentages per factor mentioned in literature on posttraumatic spinal deformity.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The reasons why participants chose their preferred term given in percentages of total participants (17). Participants could choose more than one.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
This graph depicts the percentages of respondents that deemed the factors mentioned in literature were important in posttraumatic spinal deformity.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
The magnitude of the factors is directly related to the number of times that factor was mentioned by participants.
Image 1
Image 2
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Boel A, Navarro-Comp V, Landew R, Van Der Heijde E. Two Different Invitation Approaches for Consecutive Rounds of a Delphi Survey Led to Comparable Final Outcome. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2020.09.034.. - PubMed
    1. D Stoltze J Harms B.B. [Correction of post-traumatic and congenital kyphosis: indications, techniques, results] Orthopä. 2008;37:321–338. doi: 10.1007/s00132-008-1228-2. - DOI - PubMed
    1. De Gendt E.E.A., Vercoulen T.F.G., Joaquim A.F., et al. The current status of spinal posttraumatic deformity: a systematic review. Glob. spine J. 2021;11(8):1266–1280. doi: 10.1177/2192568220969153. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. De Gendt E.E.A., Schroeder G.D., Joaquim A., et al. Spinal post-traumatic deformity: an international expert survey among AO spine Knowledge Forum members. Clin. Spine Surg. 2023;36(2):E94–E100. doi: 10.1097/BSD.0000000000001376. - DOI - PubMed
    1. De Gendt E.E., Benneker L.M., Joaquim A.F., et al. The diagnostic process of spinal post-traumatic deformity: an expert survey of 7 cases, consensus on clinical relevance does exist. Clin. Spine Surg. 2023;36(8):383–389. doi: 10.1097/BSD.0000000000001478. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources