CASE REPORT article
Front. Musculoskelet. Disord.
Sec. Spine Conditions
Diplopia and Tongue Deviation Following Halo-Pelvic Traction for Severe Congenital Scoliosis: A Case Report
Provisionally accepted
- 1Sichuan University West China Second University Hospital, Chengdu, China
- 2Sichuan University Key Laboratory of Obstetric and Gynecologic and Pediatric Diseases and Birth Defects, Chengdu, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Objective: To report a case of diplopia and tongue deviation following halo-pelvic traction (HPT) in a patient with severe congenital scoliosis (CS) and to analyze the potential causes. Methods: A retrospective analysis of the patient's clinical data was conducted, including medical history, physical examination, imaging findings, treatment course, and outcomes. Results: A 12-year-old female with CS was admitted. After 40 days of traction (with a total longitudinal lengthening of approximately 12 cm), she developed painless horizontal diplopia and leftward deviation of the protruded tongue. Physical examination revealed limited abduction of the left eye and leftward deviation of the protruded tongue. Traction was discontinued, and neurotrophic therapy (including corticosteroids, mecobalamin, and B-complex vitamins) was initiated. Symptoms gradually resolved within 50 days, with complete resolution of diplopia and normalized tongue protrusion. Conclusion: Early recognition and discontinuation of traction, combined with multimodal therapy, may prevent permanent cranial nerve injury in patients undergoing HPT.
Keywords: Congenital Scoliosis, halo-pelvic traction, Cranial nerve injury, case report, complication
Received: 03 Sep 2025; Accepted: 04 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Hui, Li and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zhou Hui, 1103570489@qq.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.