MINNEAPOLIS — The use of a Boston Brace and posterior spine fusion led to similar long-term health-related quality of life outcomes and satisfaction ratings for patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, according to a presenter, here.
Patients who underwent either treatment had no clinical progression of their deformity during the study’s 25-year follow up, according to Mikkel O. Andersen, MD.
“It seems like the treated deformity is stable in both groups. The fused patients are happier and more satisfied than the braced patients, however. Proximal junctional kyphosis is not a problem in our cohort and bracing seems to be a good conservation treatment, but maybe we can increase satisfaction by reducing bracing time,” Andersen said at the Scoliosis Research Society Annual Meeting.
Mikkel O. Anderson
Andersen and colleagues studied 219 consecutive patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis who either were braced or underwent posterior spine fusion from 1983 to 1990 at Rigshospitalet Copenhagen. In the study, 170 patients (83%) were available for the 25-year follow-up, according to Andersen.
The SRS-22 scores for the cohort with the longest follow-up were within the range of the normal classification for the general population.
“Looking at the EuroQol, there was no difference between them and their peers,” Andersen said.
The surgical cohort had higher SRS-22 satisfaction scores than the braced group, 4.33 points compared to 3.46 points (P = 0.00), which he said was a statistically significant difference. – by Robert Linnehan
Reference:
Simony A, et al. Paper #3. Presented at: Scoliosis Research Society Annual Meeting; Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 2015; Minneapolis.
Disclosure: Andersen reports no relevant financial disclosures.
