Idiopathic scoliosis is the most common musculoskeletal deformity in children. Research has established a relationship between compliance and improvement in scoliosis treatment, and that esthetic considerations have negative consequences on the quality of life (QOL) of patients and consequently on wearing time of the brace.
To minimize the esthetic problems and increase QOL and wearing time, researchers proposed a new relay brace without a pelvic-trochanteric base.
A prospective cohort study was conducted in the rehabilitation department of Bordeaux University Hospital. Patients consulting for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis were registered in a prospective hospital database. Thirty-eight patients who expressed an unwillingness to wear the usual brace or had decreased compliance and who agreed to wear the relay brace, named corset Collerette, were included in a three-month follow-up.
The Scoliosis Research Society Outcomes Questionnaire (SRS-22) and the Brace Questionnaire scales and wearing time outcome measures were assessed at baseline and at three months. The Cobb angle evolution since the start of bracing was also collected. The primary end point was the QOL assessed by the SRS-22 scale at three months of follow-up.
The QOL assessed by the SRS-22 improved significantly with the corset Collerette, according to the authors. There was no significant increase in wearing time and thoracic Cobb’s angles between baseline and follow-up. The researchers concluded that the switch to the corset Collerette appeared to allow an improvement in the patients’ QOL, avoided a decrease in compliance, and maintained the same in-brace Cobb’s angles.
