Understanding Scoliosis

Observation: Patients are kept under observation if:

• Mild Scoliosis: Deformity is not severe requiring immediate bracing or surgery,
• Cosmetic disfigurement is not significant,
• There are no neurological problems,
• Treatment by bracing/ surgery is not possible (very young age, debilitated patients, associated medical problems etc.)

It is  very important to keep a close eye on every patient presenting with spinal deformity for following reasons-

• A young patient has high chance of progression of spinal deformity due to remaining growth spurts and long period remaining for growth.
• Congenital and Neuromuscular Scoliosis as they have high chances of progression,
• Patients with borderline scoliosis, to prevent their progression in surgical category, and to detect and treat early if they progress,
• Case with high risk of developing neurological problems, e.g. congenital scoliosis, certain secondary scoliosis.

These patients require regular follow up every 3-4 months to assess worsening of deformity by clinical and x-ray examination.

• Bracing/ Casting: Patients with borderline scoliosis with Cobb Angle in the range of 20-40 degrees are best treated by a cast (patients below 5 years) or brace. The aim of casting/ bracing is to 1) prevent further progression of the curve to possibly avoid surgery, 2) To postpone the surgery to allow development of lungs in very young patients and to allow trunk growth to achieve better height before spinal fusion surgery takes place. Bracing will not work for patient who have attained skeletal maturity. Bracing has no role for the curves beyond 40 degrees. Bracing does not reverse the curve.  A regular follow up with clinical examination and x-ray is essential during bracing period to check for progression of the spinal deformity requiring change in bracing or possible need of spine surgery. Brace might need to be changed several times during the treatment to adjust for growth of the body. Bracing is not useful for congenital, neuromuscular, and degenerative scoliosis.
• Scoliosis Surgery (Deformity correction, instrumentation and fusion): Surgical correction is best treatment for scoliosis in following situations:
• High magnitude curves (> 40 degrees),
• Curves showing progression despite bracing/ casting,
• Cosmetic disfigurement due to significant curve,
• Scoliotic curves with body imbalance,
• Curves with impending/ associated neurological symptoms.
• Congenital and Neuromuscular Scoliosis as they have high likelihood of progression.

Idiopathic Scoliosis: Primary aim of surgery in scoliosis is to prevent worsening of the curve and to get as much correction as possible safely. Various surgical techniques are available. Most commonly, a posterior approach is used. Spinal segments in the curve are aligned and fused with the help of instrumentation. It is aimed to keep instrumentation level to minimum as instrumented part of the spine will lose its movements causing spinal stiffness. In certain cases, an anterior surgery is required to loosen a rigid deformity to achieve better correction by posterior surgery. Sometimes, an anterior only spine surgery can be done which provides better scar and saves some motion segments. 

Various motion preserving scoliosis surgeries are also available. In these surgeries, curve correction is done with flexible devices without fusion. They are suited for flexible curves of lesser magnitude. 

It is advisable to get surgery done as soon as possible once the curve has crossed 40-50 degrees. Curves with higher magnitude are difficult to correct, are usually only partially correctible with unsatisfactory cosmetic results, and have high complication rate. 

Early onset scoliosis: Various non-fusion instrumentation surgeries are done to correct the curve to allow chest expansion and lung growth. These devices act as internal brace and prevent rapid progression of the deformity. A fusion surgery is then done around the age of 10 years to allow lung development and achieve a better height. 

Congenital Scoliosis: An early surgery is advised as these curves progress rapidly. They carry higher risk of nerve related problems when surgically corrected due to acute curve and associated spinal cord anomalies. These risks increases if curve is severe. 

Neuromuscular Scoliosis: An early surgery is advised as these curves also progress rapidly. Patient usually have associated sitting imbalance and nutritional difficulties due to deformity.

Degenerative Scoliosis: These patients have symptoms of degenerative spinal changes (back pain, nerve pressure related symptoms) along with spinal deformity. Surgical correction usually involves an extensive surgery to correct the deformity and to treat degenerative changes by spinal decompression/ fusion. Anterior surgery is required many times to provide support and to achieve better fusion. These surgeries carry a high complication rate, both during and after the surgery. Also, recovery process from these extensive surgeries can be complicated due to associated medical illnesses in these elderly patients. A high incidence of implant failure (screws loosening, screw-rod breakage etc.) is also noted in these patients due to osteoporosis and poor healing capacity. All risks and benefits need to be carefully assessed before making a decision to proceed with surgery for these patients. Occasionally, a smaller magnitude surgery targeting the most symptomatic pathology can be done (e.g. one or 2 level decompression/ instrumentation) to provide best symptomatic relief to the patient without doing an extensive surgery.

There is no proven benefit of exercise/ physiotherapy in correcting scoliosis. Supportive treatment like physiotherapy, epidural injections etc. can be done as per the symptomatic requirement of the patient.