• M A Leroux, K Zabjek, G Simard, J Badeaux, C Coillard, and C H Rivard.
• Department of Surgery, Université de Montréal and Sainte-Justine Hospital, Montréal, Canada. leroux@justine.umontreal.ca
• Spine. 2000 Jul 1;25(13):1689-94.

Study DesignCross-sectional measurement of the sagittal geometry of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients.ObjectivesTo evaluate the accuracy of a noninvasive anthropometric approach for the measurement of kyphosis and lordosis.Summary Of Background DataNoninvasive approaches were developed to estimate the sagittal curvatures of the spine. However, the magnitude of the estimation error could be high for an important proportion of patients, which leads to a difficult clinical application.MethodsThe group was composed of 124 female patients with a mean age of 13.5 years (SD 2. 7 years) with Cobb angles ranging from 4 degrees to 66 degrees. Kyphosis and lordosis were measured on the lateral radiograph. The spine sagittal curvature of the same patients was also estimated using the spatial localization of skin markers placed overlying the spinous processes. These coordinates served as input into a simple trigonometric model. Data were collected by means of a stereovideographic technique (Motion Analysis Corp., Santa Rosa, CA).ResultsThe intraclass correlation coefficient between both approaches was 0.94 for kyphosis and 0.91 for lordosis; the mean absolute differences were 5 degrees (SD 4 degrees ) and 6 degrees (SD 6 degrees ), respectively. The difference was less than 10 degrees in 91% of the patients for kyphosis, and in 79% for lordosis.ConclusionsThe proposed technique appears to give more representative results than those presented in the literature. It has the advantage of being part of a global noninvasive postural evaluation. Using this approach in a systematic manner could help reduce radiograph exposure while keeping track of the spine sagittal curvatures.

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