Lower degree of mineralization found in cortical bone of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS).
A lowered bone mineral density (BMD) was observed in trabecular bone in a significant number of AIS patients. The present study aims at investigating whether lower BMD is a systemic phenomenon, which would also be present in the cortical component of long bone.


METHODS
78 AIS girls (age:15-18y.o) with either moderate (Cobb: 20-40) or severe (Cobb: >40) curve and 44 age-matched controls were recruited. The BMD of the distal region and the mid-shaft of radius were measured with a multi-layer peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT). The trabecular bone and cortical bone BMD and the morphology of mid-shaft were compared.


RESULTS
Both trabecular and cortical BMD in severe AIS group was significantly lower than the control by 8.7% and 1.7% (p<0.05 for both), respectively. However, the cortical bone area of the mid-shaft did not show any differences from the normal control subjects.


CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrates a systemic low BMD including the cortical bone. It is suggested that AIS girls may have disturbance in mineralization and ossification during peripubertal growth.
Yeung
H Y
HY
Department of Orthopaedics & Traumatology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Qin
L
L
Hung
V W Y
VW
Lee
K M
KM
Guo
X
X
Ng
B W K
BW
Cheng
J C Y
JC
D000293:Adolescent; D002113:Calcification, Physiologic; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D012600:Scoliosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed