Scoliosis: Life, Support & Friends

The outcomes of scoliosis treatment are being evaluated continually in an attempt to optimise the results for each scoliosis patient. The two prinicpal goals of any scoliosis surgery are to limit further curve progression and achieve some degreeof deformity correction. The greater the focus on deformity correction, however, the greater the risk of procedure, with the most obvious risk being limitation of spinal cord function. Advances in surgical technique, instrumentation, and intra-operative monitoring of the spinal cord have allowed greater and safer deformity correction than that achieved with the Harrington rod , which is the correction I had in 1989. The Harrington rod is from the era of the 1960s and 1970s. Deformity correction both radiographically and with regard to trunk shape is important to many patients with scoliosis. The functional outcome after fusion is equally important and may be assessed using a variety of methods, including measurements of physiologic function, s...

Hello there, Internet ! My name is Kathleen, and like a solid percentage of you I'm a scoliosis suffer. I'm pleased (note: insanely thrilled) to be joining Scoliosis Nutty as a contributor and share in what I think we can all agree is a pretty irritating ailment to be suffering from (to say the least). I was diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis at age eleven and by the age of thirteen my curvature had hit 75 degrees. Between then and now I've had 5 surgeries in an attempt to correct my spine (which I've long since decided has not only a mind of its own, but probably a small community of tiny people whose sole goal in life is to make me miserable in any way possible). I'm twenty now, with still one, possibly two surgeries to look forward to in the future. I've done the Boston brace (three times, the third met its demise as a very fine scratching post for my cats) I've had the Harrington rods and then swiftly had them removed (part of it now sits upstairs i...

ScoliosisJournal report about Correction: Assessment of angle velocity in girls with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis Authors: Ferran Escalada, Ester Marco, Roser Belmonte, Esther Duarte, Josep Ma Muniesa, Roser Boza, Marta Tejero and Enric Cáceres Publiushed: 10 October 2009 Background Although it has been demonstrated that the peak height velocity (PHV) is a predictive factor of progression in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), little is known about the usefulness of angle progression in clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to establish a relationship between height and angle velocities, as well as to determine if peak angle velocity (PAV) occurs at the same time than PHV. Methods A retrospective study of a cohort of girls with idiopathic scoliotic curves greater than 10°. Data of 132 girls who participated in a previous retrospective study about growth in AIS were used to calculate height and angle velocities. Relationship between height and angle velocities was est...

Scoliosis Journal posted about real time noninvasive assessment of external trunk geometry during surgical correction of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis Authors: Luc Duong, Jean-Marc Mac-Thiong and Hubert Labelle Published: 24 February 2009 Background The correction of trunk deformity is crucial in scoliosis surgery, especially for the patient's self-image. However, direct visualization of external scoliotic trunk deformity during surgical correction is difficult due to the covering draping sheets. Methods An optoelectronic camera system with 10 passive markers is used to track the trunk geometry of 5 scoliotic patients during corrective surgery. The position of 10 anatomical landmarks and 5 trunk indices computed from the position of the passive markers are compared during and after instrumentation of the spine. Results Internal validation of the accuracy of tracking was evaluated at 0.41+/- 0.05 mm RMS. Intra operative tracking during surgical maneuvers shows improvement of the...