Short-term outcome of double-shelled braces in neuromuscular scoliosis.

Introduction: Scoliosis in patients with neuromuscular disease is a common issue and leads to secondary impairment. It is thus important to help such patients to regain and retain best possible stability to improve their quality of life. One option is the double-shelled brace (DSB). The aim of this study was to provide information on the degree of correction when using a DSB on patients with neuromuscular scoliosis.

Methods: We included patients with neuromuscular scoliosis treated with double-shelled braces in this retrospective study. Radiographs of the full spine were taken with and without the DSB, the Cobb angles were measured and compared. The correction was expressed in percent of the lumbar and thoracic Cobb angles. In addition, compounding factors such as age, sex, type of the curves, and movement disorder were included.

Results: We analyzed data from 84 patients with scoliosis with different neuromuscular disorders. The mean age was 12.3 years (± 5.9). In the lumbar spine we detected an improvement of 27.5% (SD ± 32.9), in the thoracic spine 25.3% (SD ± 38.0).

Interpretation: Short-term corrections with a double-shelled brace in neuromuscular scoliosis present an average improvement of one fourth of the lumbar and thoracic Cobb angles and, independent of age, sex, movement disorder, shape or type of the curve. Only spasticity has an influence on the lumbar scoliosis outcome.