Showing papers on "Cobb angle published in 1985"

Thoracic Idiopathic Scoliosis Curve Evolution and Prognosis

Abstract: This study is a retrospective review of 221 patients with untreated idiopathic thoracic and thoracolumbar scoliosis that were observed from the first months of life until maturity. There are three stages in the evolution of these curves: a single main period of progression, a secondary period of progression, and a stable period. The chronology of these different periods varies. In "infantile scoliosis," the main period of accelerated increase of the curve occurs prior to 6 years of age. In "juvenile-puberal scoliosis," it occurs from 6 years of age to the first stages of puberty, and in "puberal scoliosis," the main increase occurs during puberty or adolescence. The prognosis of the scoliosis can be established at any age based on different parameters, such as the specific angle of rotation from birth to 6 years of age, the torsion angle from 6 years of age to P2, and the Cobb angle after puberty.

Behavioral method for the treatment of idiopathic scoliosis

Abstract: Idiopathic scoliosis was treated by an automated portable posture-training device that incorporated precise behavioral principles and enabled therapeutic training to be given in the patients' normal environment throughout the entire day Twenty-one patient-years of training were completed with a group of 12 adolescent girls selected as being imminently likely to require a brace because of the way their spinal curves had been progressing As an alternative to conventional brace therapy, patients found the posture-training device considerably less physically restraining and more cosmetically acceptable Most patients wore it 23 hr per day for at least 1 year and adapted well to the constant physical and psychological presence of the instrument For 10 patients, the outcome was entirely successful; they were discharged from this pilot study as satisfactorily corrected Progression of the scoliotic curve was arrested; in fact, there was an average slight improvement in the Cobb angle (a measure of spinal curvature) as measured by x-ray radiography

Combined idiopathic kyphosis and scoliosis. An analysis of the lateral spinal curvatures associated with Scheuermann's disease

Abstract: A radiological study of 50 patients with thoracic Scheuermann's disease revealed two types of lateral spinal curvature. A total of 43 lateral curves was present in 35 of the patients. Thirteen were apical at the same level as the Scheuermann's kyphosis and were due to vertebral-body wedging in the coronal plane; these curves had a mean Cobb angle of 15 degrees, occurred with equal prevalence in boys and girls and were directed equally to right and left. Thirty curves occurred in regions of compensatory lordosis (mean 5.6 degrees) situated above or, more commonly, below the Scheuermann's kyphosis. These scolioses had a mean Cobb angle of 16 degrees, were more often convex to the right than to the left and were significantly more prevalent in girls than in boys. The presence of these kyphoses and scolioses in the same spine, separated by only a few vertebrae, emphasises the importance of the sagittal plane in idiopathic spinal deformities and strongly suggests that idiopathic scoliosis and Scheuermann's disease share a common pathological process.

Moire topography in scoliosis

Abstract: Moire topography was added to school scoliosis screening in Singapore in 1982. The results from 1342 topographs, assessed in isolation, were used to study the accuracy of the method in predicting the radiographic location and magnitude of scoliotic curves. Accuracy in identifying the site of the curve was 68% in the thoracic spine, 54% in the thoracolumbar spine, and 15% in the lumbar region. There were 12.7% false-positive results and 4.3% false negatives. Of patients with a deviation of one moire fringe, 76.5% had a curve of 15#{176} or less; of those with a deviation of four moire fringes, 69% had a curve greater than 26#{176}. The prediction of the Cobb angle was less accurate when there was a deviation of two or three fringes. It is suggested that moire topography as a screening device should be reserved for use in the second tier of screening, since the forward-bending test is an effective and cheap method for the first tier of a mass school-screening programme.