BACKGROUND:The treatment of severe rigid idiopathic scoliosis is the difficulty of clinical treatment. The studies in recent years have shown that the three-stage correction is a safe and effective treatment method. OBJECTIVE:To explore the efficacy of three-stage correction in the treatment of severe rigid scoliosis. METHODS:Retrospective analysis was performed on 10 severe rigid scoliosis patients undergoing three-stage correction, the mean age of the patients was 12 years. The average Cobb angle in the coronal plane was 140° (ranged 110°-180°), the average Cobb angle in the sagittal plane was 75° (ranged 50°-100°). The treatment was divided three stages:anterior release, Halo-plevic traction and third step with posterior osteotomy and fixation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Al of the patients underwent the surgery safely without severe complications. After anterior release and Halo-plevic traction, the Cobb angle in the coronal plane was 90°, and the mean correction rate was 35.7%;the Cobb angle in the sagittal plane was 50° with correction rate of 33.3%. The mean Cobb angle in the coronal plane was 40° with the correction rate of 71.4%after osteotomy, and the Cobb angle in the sagittal plane was 35° with the correction rate of 53.3%. The results show that three-stage correction is a safe and effective method for the treatment of severe rigid scoliosis.