Revised Link
If necessary, navigate to the 2011 Annual Meeting, presentations from 5/13/11
The one thing that I have some concern about is that it appears that they cherry picked the patients in the "good" group. So, if the child has no psychological issues and will wear their brace >14 hours a day, they have a good outcome, at least at 3M following treatment.
To really know if it works, however, they're going to have to find out in 50 years, how many of those patients didn't eventually need surgery. While I still think I'd consider putting my child into a brace if all the planets aligned perfectly, I honestly don't think we'll know if bracing is a potentially successful treatment until we know their COMPLETE natural history. I know this is the same old debate we've been having for years, but everyone who is going to have to go through the turmoil of bracing a child, needs to understand that they may just be putting the necessity to have a scoliosis fusion off for 20, 30, 40, or 50+ years. While the parents may not be around for that eventuality, we need to consider if the braced kids have a better quality of life in the end, than the non-braced kids.
Last edited by LindaRacine; 11-01-2011 at 11:47 PM.
Never argue with an idiot. They always drag you down to their level, and then they beat you with experience. --Twain
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Surgery 2/10/93 A/P fusion T4-L3
Surgery 1/20/11 A/P fusion L2-sacrum w/pelvic fixation