Extract
Idiopathic scoliosis is a structural, lateral curvature of the spine for
which no etiology has been established. Chronologically, idiopathic scoliosis
can be categorized on the basis of the age of the patient at first
identification of the deformity: infantile (birth to two years and eleven
months), juvenile (three years to nine years and eleven months), and
adolescent (ten years to seventeen years and eleven months). Thus, this
article will describe the scoliotic deformities of patients who are at least
three years of age but younger than ten years of age when the deformity is
first identified. It has been demonstrated that spinal growth is fairly steady
during this juvenile
period1. For this
reason, Dickson and Archer believed that true juvenile-onset scoliosis was
rare enough not to warrant a separate category. They proposed a two-group
classification that included early onset (five years of age or less) and late
onset (six years of age and older)
scoliosis2. In
addition, patients who receive a diagnosis of scoliosis at five years of age
or younger have a much higher chance of having a large curve develop, which
may lead to pulmonary complications and cor
pulmonale1,3.
In this paper, we adhere to the classic age-at-onset definition as described
by Dickson and Archer but do not describe adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.