Poliomyelitic involvement of the trunk muscles is a serious condition, and the patient may be completely incapacitated by the resulting severe deformities.
A scoliosis has developed in 150, or 30 per cent. of 500 chronic poliomyelitis patients consecutively examined.
The most important factors for the development of the curves have been a lack of early absolute recumbency, the presence of a marked asymmetrical muscle paralysis, and a lack of adequate supportive treatment from a conservative and operative standpoint.
Twenty-one additional patients were found with symmetrical trunk paralysis, in whom scoliosis has not developed. It is the authors' contention that a progressive scoliosis will usually not develop in cases with balanced trunk paralysis.
Seventeen patients, or 3.4 per cent. of the total cases, had a complete recovery from their known paralysis.
Various types of operative and non-operative treatment, with certain modifications, have been found useful in the fusion operation for paralytic scoliosis.