ACR Index: 4.1
Scoliosis is defined as a lateral curvature of the spine in the coronal plane. Scoliosis is divided into several categories.
Idiopathic - 70%
>>Infantile
>>Progressive
>>Adolescent
Congenital - 10%
>>Failure of vertebral formation
>>Failure of vertebral segmentation
>>Combinations
Neuromuscular
Traumatic
Infectious
Metabolic
Neoplastic
Idiopathic scoliosis makes up nearly 70% of all cases. It is divided into three subsets: Infantile, progressive and adolescent. Infantile occurs in children under the age of four. Most cases occur in males with a convexity that is leftward and located in the thoracic spine. In the resolving variant, the curve is less than 30 degrees and requires no treatment. A progessive variant exists and carries a high likelihood for deformity. Juvenile idiopathic scoliosis has no sex prediliction and occurs in chilgren age 4 to 9. The most common is the adolescent form, which represents 85% of cases. This occurs primarily in girls from age 10 years to hte age of skeletal maturity. The thoracolumbar spine is usually involved with the convexity of the curve to the right.
Congenital scoliosis represents 10% of cases. Three sub-groups exist: failure of vertebral formation, failure of vertebral segmentation and a combination of the above. Other disorders such as neuromuscular, trauma induced, infectious, metabolic and neoplastic etiologies occur.
The Scoliosis Research Society:
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