title: Nighttime bracing for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis with the Charleston Bending Brace: long-term follow-up.
abstract: We report long-term experience with the Charleston Bending Brace for treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. This brace holds the patient in maximal side-bending correction and is worn at nighttime only. Patients included in this prospective multicenter study met all of the following criteria: skeletal immaturity (Risser 0, 1, or 2), curvature >25 degrees before bracing, no prior treatment, and >1-year follow-up since completion of bracing (skeletal maturity or progression to surgery). All curves were monitored and reported. There were 149 structural curves in 98 patients. Sixty-five (66%) patients showed improvement or <5 degrees change in curvature. Seventeen (17%) patients progressed to the point of requiring surgery for their scoliosis. Based on these long-term results and improvement of the natural history of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, continued use of the Charleston Bending Brace is justified.
authors.affiliation: Orlando Regional Healthcare Systems, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: C T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Price
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: F R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Reed
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Sproul
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Riddick
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001915:Braces; D002648:Child; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012600:Scoliosis / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome