Scoliosis in China. A general review.

Abstract

In modern China the investigation and treatment of scoliosis began in the late 1970s. The incidence of scoliosis in the Chinese population of the Sichuan province was 0.064%, and the incidence of >10 degrees for Beijing students was 1.04%. The surgical treatment of scoliosis for 2122 patients reported in the Chinese literature was reviewed by the authors. In this study, the female to male ratio was 1.3:1, the incidence of idiopathic scoliosis was 67.7%, and the incidence of congenital scoliosis was 18.1%. The overall result showed that the correction rate after surgery in the coronal plane was approximately 50% using the Harrington, Luque, Dwyer, or Cotrel-Dubousset instrumentation techniques. However, it would be increased by >60% if a partial vertebrectomy was carefully done and the soft tissue in the concave side was released completely. The postoperative complications were approximately 20% with 0.24% of major spinal cord injury. Biologic and anatomic research of the spine has been done so that the quality of surgical implants can be improved in the future.