The 48th Annual Meeting of the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS), held September 18-21, 2013, in Lyon, France, featured 129 conference presentations and 105 poster sessions. Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis A study from the SRS membership database followed more than 17,400 patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and showed that surgical complications in the surgical treatment of idiopathic scoliosis are gradually decreasing compared with surgical treatments 10 years ago, with a gradual shift to a single posterior approach to surgery. The decrease in surgical complications may be related to the shift from a combined anterior and posterior approach to a single posterior approach, as well as the widespread use of pedicle screws, which increased rapidly from 9.5% in 2002 to more than 50% in 2007. The progression of scoliosis angle after surgery for idiopathic scoliosis continues to be one of the areas of current interest. In a 5-year postoperative follow-up study, 22% experienced an increase in distal scoliosis angle (adding on) after posterior spinal fusion, although this phenomenon did not have a significant impact on clinical outcomes or postoperative revision rates. Dr. Stuart Weinstein reported on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) study related to bracing for the treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (BrAIST), a prospective randomized controlled study of bracing for the treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Short-term follow-up showed that brace treatment was effective, and the recommendation for wearing a brace is to wear it for more than 13 hours a day during waking hours. Adult Spinal Deformities In a study in the SRS member database, more than 7,500 adult spinal deformities were treated surgically. Unlike adolescent patients, the proportion of such patients undergoing combined anterior and posterior approaches versus single posterior approaches has not changed significantly in recent years and remains about equal. Complications associated with the combined anterior and posterior approach are slightly higher. In any case, the results of the International Spine Federation study show that surgical treatment of adult scoliosis is cost-effective and more effective than non-surgical treatment. The use of rhBMP-2 in long segment fusion for adult scoliosis is an area of particular interest. Follow-up studies of adults with scoliosis at least two years after surgery have shown that rhBMP-2 reduces postoperative long-term complications and postoperative revision rates by minimizing internal fixation failure compared with no rhBMP-2. With regard to the possible risk of tumorigenesis due to rhBMP-2, a study of more than 12,700 patients followed up with rhBMP-2 was reported at the 2013 SRS Annual Meeting, which showed that the age factor was a significant correlate of postoperative tumorigenesis, whereas rhBMP-2 had no significant correlation with postoperative tumorigenesis. In a multicenter study of the surgical treatment of adult spinal deformities, the results showed that the incidence of postoperative neurological dysfunction complications in adult spinal deformities reached 17%. Junctional kyphosis proximal to the fused segment remains one of the more problematic issues at present, with three articles focusing on this aspect. Although previous studies have shown that complete correction of sagittal balance and strengthening of the lumbar lordosis are positively correlated with postoperative outcomes, it is now believed that surgical treatment of elderly patients with spinal deformities should appropriately preserve mild sagittal angulation of the spine and that reconstruction of the lumbar lordosis should be moderate, thereby better preventing the development of junctional kyphosis proximal to the fused segment. In a randomized controlled study, the application of antifibrinolytic agents was shown to reduce intraoperative blood loss in adult spinal deformity surgery. Neuromuscular scoliosis Infection remains one of the areas of concern in the surgical management of neuromuscular scoliosis. Several studies have shown that topical application of vancomycin to the wound at the end of surgery in patients with neuromuscular scoliosis reduces the incidence of postoperative incision infections. Moreover, no significant other adverse effects were found after topical application. Early-onset scoliosis Some scholars have reported the preliminary results of applying vertebral curium nails to treat early-onset scoliosis. However, the sample size is still small and the follow-up time is still short. Basic research Many spine centers are still working on constructing animal scoliosis models. One study utilized chondrocyte hormone receptor deficiency to construct a juvenile scoliosis model in rats. However, the model resembled osteogenesis imperfecta more than idiopathic scoliosis. Vitamin D continues to be emphasized in basic research, and a related animal study showed a significant increase in the volume and strength of bone fusion in vitamin D-supplemented rats relative to vitamin D-deficient rats.