A team of researchers evaluated the efficacy of braces in the treatment of congenital early-onset scoliosis in comparison to progressive idiopathic early-onset scoliosis. They found that bracing is an efficient nonsurgical alternative to casting, and that patients diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis tended to have a better result in main Cobb angle correction than those with congenital scoliosis.
The researchers reviewed records of 27 patients with progressive early-onset scoliosis who were treated with braces at a single institution and had a minimum of four years of follow-up care.
A congenital scoliosis group and an idiopathic scoliosis group were established according to each participant’s etiological diagnosis. The success cases and the failure cases were also compared.
The patients, 16 female and 11 male, who had an average main Cobb angle of 38.19 degrees underwent initial bracing at an average age of 55.7 months; the average follow-up time was 76.19 months. In the idiopathic scoliosis group the main Cobb angle was corrected to 18.69 ± 12.06 degrees (48.61 percent) following the first bracing. The final Cobb angle was 23.08 ± 22.15 degrees (38.76 percent) after brace removal.
In the congenital scoliosis group the main Cobb angle was corrected to 33.93 ± 10.31 degrees (17.1 percent) following the first bracing and 37.93 ± 14.74 degrees (3.53 percent) after brace removal. Both coronal chest width and T1-T12 height increased dramatically from pre-bracing to the last follow-up, according to the study.
Patients diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis tended to have a better result in main Cobb angle correction than that of congenital scoliosis. By the time of the last follow-up, eight patients had undergone surgery, and the operation time was postponed by 68.88 ± 26.43 months.
The open-access study, “The efficacy of bracing in the treatment of progressive early-onset scoliosis,” was published in Scientific Reports.
