phs001677
Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis 1000 Exomes Study
Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is the most common pediatric spinal deformity. Although the Bracing in AIS Trial (BrAIST) recently demonstrated the effectiveness of bracing for preventing scoliosis progression in some patients, more than 20,000 children undergo major spinal fusion surgery at an annual cost of $3 billion. Spinal fusion surgery is a major operation with considerable risks and complications. Accurate methods of predicting curve progression are needed to develop personalized prevention strategies for those at high risk and to eliminate screening and treatment of those at low risk of progression. Previously identified risk factors for scoliosis curve progression include sex, age of onset, curve type, and presence of an underlying disorder. However, currently available algorithms for predicting AIS curve progression are inaccurate, possibly because the role of genetic factors has been largely unexplored. Because there is little a priori... (for more see dbGaP study page.)