New International Database for Scoliosis Treatment

An international spinal deformity database shows clinical pictures and X-rays of different types of spine curvatures, and treatment options for resolving them.

A researcher at the University of Virginia (Charlottesville, USA) has created Scolisoft, the largest international online spinal deformity database, and the only database that carries clinical photographs of surgical patients taken before and after surgery. It also shares information on how each case was treated and the results experienced by each patient. Doctors from around the world can enter similar information about the cases they treat. The combined information serves as a guide that helps surgeons make decisions about the type of care their individual patients need.

Scolisoft also has implications for medical education. Currently, medical students and residents learn by reviewing medical records, which is time consuming. With Scolisoft, they have a library of cases that they can review and learn from online. Residents with access to the database also learn to set up research protocols, allowing them to study patient satisfaction and body image information items.

"When you get a new case that you can match with five identical cases in the database, you can see clearly what the best course of treatment was for that particular type of curvature,” said orthopedic surgeon Vincent Arlet, M.D., the developer of Scolisoft. "The extent of surgery that is needed varies. With information from the database, we can avoid giving too little surgical correction or too much surgical correction and we can determine exactly what is best for the patient.”

Scoliosis is a medical condition in which a person's spine is curved from side to side. Although it is a complex three-dimensional (3D) deformity, on an X-ray, viewed from the rear, the spine of an individual with scoliosis may look more like an ‘S' or a ‘C', rather than a straight line. It is typically classified as either congenital (caused by vertebral anomalies present at birth), idiopathic (cause unknown, sub-classified as infantile, juvenile, adolescent, or adult according to when onset occurred) or neuromuscular (having developed as a secondary symptom of another condition, such as spina bifida, cerebral palsy, spinal muscular atrophy or physical trauma).

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