Three-dimensional vertebral wedging and pelvic asymmetries in the early stages of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

Background Context: Scoliosis is a three-dimensional (3D) deformation of the spine and the pelvis. Although the relation between the pelvic asymmetries and scoliosis progression was proposed by several authors, it has not been documented over time in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS).

Purpose: The objective was to determine whether vertebral wedging and pelvic asymmetries progress in the early stages of AIS before any orthopedic treatment.

A prospective randomized controlled trial of the natural history of idiopathic scoliosis versus treatment with the SpineCor brace. Sosort Award 2011 winner.

Aim: The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to evaluate the efficacy of the Dynamic SpineCor brace for early idiopathic scoliosis (15°-30°) compared to the natural evolution of the disease. 68 patients participated in this study (32 treated and 36 controls) with at least 5 years follow-up.

Methods: The inclusion criteria were: 1) high risk of evolution: family history and/or proven progressive; 2) no significant pathological malformation of the spine; 3) initial Cobb angle between 15° and 30°; 4) risser 0, 1 or 2.

Three-dimensional vertebral wedging in mild and moderate adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

Background: Vertebral wedging is associated with spinal deformity progression in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Reporting frontal and sagittal wedging separately could be misleading since these are projected values of a single three-dimensional deformation of the vertebral body. The objectives of this study were to determine if three-dimensional vertebral body wedging is present in mild scoliosis and if there are a preferential vertebral level, position and plane of deformation with increasing scoliotic severity.

SpineCor treatment for Juvenile Idiopathic Scoliosis: SOSORT award 2010 winner.

Introduction: Juvenile idiopathic scoliosis is a condition used to describe patients who are least 4 years of age but younger than 10 when the deformity is first identified. In these patients, the condition is usually progressive and those that are diagnosed at five years or younger have a high chance of progression to a large curve, with additional pulmonary and cardiac complications. The main form of conservative treatment for juvenile scoliosis is the use of a bracing system.

A new concept for the non-invasive treatment of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: the Corrective Movement principle integrated in the SpineCor System.

Purpose: To evaluate the change in spinal curvature and posture of Idiopathic Scoliosis patients when a curve specific 'Corrective Movement Principle' (CMP) is applied.

Methods: This prospective interventional study was carried out on a group of 639 patients (92.3% females) having idiopathic scoliosis treated with the SpineCor brace.

Postural characteristics of adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis.

Background: The objectives of this study were to compare the postural characteristics of idiopathic scoliosis (IS) patients with different types of spinal curvature and to compare a motion capture and a sequential digitization technique to estimate the postural characteristics of the IS patients.

Methods: A total of 57 IS patients underwent a radiological, clinical, and postural geometric evaluations in an upright standing position as part of their regular follow-up. The posteroanterior radiograph of the trunk was used to measure the amplitude of spinal curvature.

Estimation of the centre of mass for the study of postural control in Idiopathic Scoliosis patients: a comparison of two techniques.

The objective of the present study is to quantify the position of the Centre of Mass (COM) during quiet standing using a force plate and compare this technique to the quantification of the COM with an anthropometric model. The postural control of 18 healthy adolescents and 22 IS patients was evaluated using an Optotrak 3D kinematic system, and two AMTI force plates during quiet standing. The position of anatomical landmarks tracked by the Optotrak system served to estimate the position of the COM of both groups using an anthropometric model (COM(anth)).

Effectiveness of the SpineCor brace based on the new standardized criteria proposed by the scoliosis research society for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

The purpose of this prospective observational study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Dynamic SpineCor brace for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis in accordance with the standardized criteria proposed by the Scoliosis Research Society Committee on Bracing and Nonoperative Management. They proposed these guidelines to make the comparison among studies more valid and reliable. From 1993 to 2006, 493 patients were treated using the SpineCor brace.

The spinal cord dura mater reaction to nitinol and titanium alloy particles: a 1-year study in rabbits.

This investigation was undertaken to simulate in an animal model the particles released from a porous nitinol interbody fusion device and to evaluate its consequences on the dura mater, spinal cord and nerve roots, lymph nodes (abdominal para-aortic), and organs (kidneys, spleen, pancreas, liver, and lungs). Our objective was to evaluate the compatibility of the nitinol particles with the dura mater in comparison with titanium alloy. In spite of the great use of metallic devices in spine surgery, the proximity of the spinal cord to the devices raised concerns about the effect of the metal debris that might be released onto the neural tissue.

[Bone integration and apposition of porous and non porous metallic orthopaedic biomaterials].

The objective of this study was to evaluate the functionality of two intervertebral fusion implants, a porous nickel-titanium and a conventional titanium cage system in a sheep model. Eighteen sheep each received the two-implant devices at L2-L3 and L4-L5 lumbar levels. The sheep were sacrificed at three different postsurgical periods: three, six and 12 months.

Evaluation of segmental postural characteristics during quiet standing in control and Idiopathic Scoliosis patients.

Background: The complex skeletal deformations that accompany Idioapthic Scoliosis pose a challenge to the clinician to non-invasively discriminate Idiopathic Scoliosis patients from children with no pathology. Therefore, the focus of this study is to non-invasively evaluate the position and amplitude of displacement of the pelvis, shoulders and thorax during quiet standing of Idiopathic Scoliosis patients and control subjects.

Methods: The quiet standing posture of 18 healthy adolescent females and 22 Idiopathic Scoliosis subjects was evaluated using an Optotrak 3020 position sensor over a period of 120 s, with 4 repeat trials.

SpineCor--a non-rigid brace for the treatment of idiopathic scoliosis: post-treatment results.

The objective of this study was to assess the success of treatment during the follow-up of a group of 195 idiopathic scoliosis (IS) patients consecutively treated with the SpineCor system. A survival analysis was performed to estimate the cumulative probability of success during treatment, at follow-up and for the combined treatment and follow-up period. Success was defined as either a correction or stabilization of +/-5 degrees or more, and failure as a worsening of more than 5 degrees.

Porous titanium-nickel for intervertebral fusion in a sheep model: part 2. Surface analysis and nickel release assessment.

Porous titanium-nickel (PTN) devices represent an alternative to traditional cage implants. PTN materials possess an interconnecting network of pores with capillarity properties that may promote bone ingrowth, long-term fixation, and intervertebral fusion without the need for bone grafting. However, their considerable surface area and nickel content may elicit concerns over sensitization potential.

Porous titanium-nickel for intervertebral fusion in a sheep model: part 1. Histomorphometric and radiological analysis.

Porous titanium-nickel (PTN) implants represent an alternative to traditional intervertebral fusion cages. Indeed, PTN materials possess interconnecting pores with cell capillarity properties that may promote bone ingrowth and intervertebral fusion without the need for bone grafting. In this study, a PTN intervertebral fusion device was compared to a conventional TiAlV cage packed with autologous bone in a sheep model.

In vivo biocompatibility testing of peek polymer for a spinal implant system: a study in rabbits.

We are developing a new spinal implant system (SIS) without fusion (bone graft). This SIS is made from two materials, metal and polyetheretherketone (PEEK) polymer. The Food and Drug Administration recommended testing in vivo, in an animal model, whether the PEEK polymer could be used in a SIS without any harm of wear debris to the nervous tissue (spinal cord and nerve roots).

Estimated kyphosis and lordosis changes at follow-up in patients with idiopathic scoliosis.

The objective of this study was to verify the accuracy of surface measurements to estimate the magnitude of sagittal curvature changes at follow-up. Ninety-seven patients with idiopathic scoliosis were evaluated at two different visits (interval: 15.7 months).

Acute postural adaptations induced by a shoe lift in idiopathic scoliosis patients.

The objective of this study was to identify acute spinal and three-dimensional postural adaptations induced by a shoe lift in a population of idiopathic scoliosis (IS) patients. Forty-six IS patients (mean age: 12 +/- 2 years) were evaluated radiologically and with a stereovideographic system for pelvic obliquity. Based on the initial postural and radiological evaluation, a pertinent shoe lift height was chosen for each with the result that 12 patients were tested with 5-mm (S5) lifts, 20 patients were tested with 10-mm (S10) lifts, and 14 patients with 15-mm (S15) lifts.

Relationship between gibbosity and Cobb angle during treatment of idiopathic scoliosis with the SpineCor brace.

The objective of this study was to quantify the relationship between gibbosity and spinal deformation expressed by the angle of Cobb before and during treatment with a brace for different classes of idiopathic scoliosis patients. As part of the standard treatment with the Dynamic Corrective Brace (SpineCor), 89 idiopathic scoliosis patients underwent an initial radiological examination and gibbosity measurement with a scoliometer wearing and not wearing the brace. The 89 patients were classified in relation to the apex of the scoliosis curves: thoracic (n = 29); thoracolumbar (n = 40); lumbar (n = 7) and double (n = 13).

A noninvasive anthropometric technique for measuring kyphosis and lordosis: an application for idiopathic scoliosis.

Study Design: Cross-sectional measurement of the sagittal geometry of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients.

Objectives: To evaluate the accuracy of a noninvasive anthropometric approach for the measurement of kyphosis and lordosis.

Summary Of Background Data: Noninvasive approaches were developed to estimate the sagittal curvatures of the spine.

Pre-, intra-, and postoperative three-dimensional evaluation of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

The authors measured and compared the pre-, intra-, and postoperative three-dimensional shape of the spine during corrective surgery to quantify the specific contribution of positioning, anesthesia, surgical exposure, surgical instrumentation, and postural adaptation of the thoracic and lumbar spine. In 58 adolescent girls with idiopathic scoliosis undergoing corrective surgery by a posterior approach, the three-dimensional geometry of the thoracic and lumbar spine was documented in the standing position before and after surgery using a three-dimensional reconstruction technique based on multiplanar radiography, and the intraoperative three-dimensional geometry was measured using a three-dimensional magnetic digitizer before and after installation of the first rod. Prone positioning, anesthesia, and surgical exposure are responsible for a considerable decrease in all curves in the frontal and sagittal plane.

[Reductibility of idiopathic scoliosis during orthopedic treatment].

Non-operative treatment of idiopathic scoliosis is long and difficult. For the patient and the therapist it is particularly important to define early the therapeutic prognosis. The goal of this study is to verify if the initial reducibility at the beginning of treatment with the dynamic corrective brace (Spinecor) would be valid as a prognostic factor, allowing a more effective prognostic judgement of the final outcome treatment.

[Experimental scoliosis in the minipig: study of vertebral deformations].

Unlabelled: The purpose of this study was to attempt an induction of a scoliotic deformation in the minipig by means of unilateral epiphysiodesis of the neurocetral cartilage (NCC) of 5 consecutive vertebrae, in order to understand the vertebral deformities genesis in the scoliotic pathology. The vertebral deformities induced in this quadruped have been compared to those of the pseudo-biped (chicken: induction of the scoliosis by means of pinealectomy) and to the known vertebral deformities in the human idiopathic scoliosis.

Material And Methods: Eight Yucatan minipigs (1 month old) have been used.

[Comparison of the reliability of two 3D acquisition systems used for the study of anthropometric and postural parameters].

The goal of this study is to compare the between trials and between session reliability of the postural geometry (PG) and anthropometrical evaluations, obtained by the FreePoint (FP) system and the Motion Analysis System (MA). The potential of automatization of the anthropometric evaluation is also evaluate through the comparison of height measurements obtained by the two 3D systems and traditional anthropometrical tools. The PG of 15 adult control subjects (x: 25 years, SD: 6) evaluated on two occasions (1 week interval) and a mannequin on one occasion were evaluated with both systems.

Intraoperative comparison of two instrumentation techniques for the correction of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Rod rotation and translation.

Study Design: A prospective and controlled comparative study of two instrumentation techniques used for the correction of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

Objective: To measure the three-dimensional intraoperative correction obtained with a rotation maneuver as compared with that obtained with a translation maneuver of the first instrumentation rod inserted to determine the difference, if any, in the two techniques for achieving three-dimensional correction.

Summary Of Background Data: Adequate three-dimensional correction of scoliotic deformities has been reported with the Cotrel-Dubousset instrumentation using the rod-rotation maneuver.