Case report: Halo-pelvic traction linked to diplopia and tongue deviation in adolescent scoliosisCan a rare spine treatment cause vision and tongue problems in a child?

A case report describes a 12-year-old female with severe congenital scoliosis who underwent halo-pelvic traction. After 40 days of traction, with approximately 12 cm of total longitudinal lengthening, the patient developed painless horizontal diplopia, leftward deviation of the protruded tongue, and limited abduction of the left eye.

The traction was discontinued, and neurotrophic therapy was initiated. The symptoms gradually resolved within 50 days after stopping traction. The report notes 1 patient experienced these adverse events and 1 patient had resolution of symptoms. No serious adverse events, discontinuation rates beyond the case, or tolerability data were reported.

This is a single case report with no control group, comparator, or statistical analysis. The publication type is a case report, and key details like study phase, setting, primary outcome, follow-up duration, and funding/conflicts were not reported. The authors describe only a temporal association; no causal inference can be made from this evidence.

The practice relevance suggested by the report is that early recognition and discontinuation of traction, combined with multimodal therapy, may help prevent permanent cranial nerve injury. However, given the limitations, this represents a hypothesis for further study rather than established clinical guidance. Clinicians should be aware of this potential neurological complication but cannot generalize from one case.