Retrospective results in immature idiopathic scoliotic patients treated with a Chêneau brace

This paper reports a retrospective series which includes 105 idiopathic scoliotic patients treated with a Chêneau brace. With an average age of 12.5 years old and a mean Risser sign of 0.9, the initial major Cobb angle was 36.8 degrees corrected to 25.9 degrees in the brace (31.1% of the primary correction), and the major torsion angle was 16.8 degrees corrected to 12.9 degrees in the brace (22.2% of the primary correction). 37 patients have finished the treatment with a mean follow-up of 16.8 months. For this group, the initial Cobb and torsion angles were not significantly changed (36.4 degrees Cobb to 34.1 degrees Cobb at follow-up, and 16.9 degrees Perdriolle to 15.7 degrees Perdriolle at follow-up). The proportion of patients without progression greater than 5 degrees Cobb (n=20) and with an improved final Cobb angle (n=10) was greater than failures (n=7). However, due to the catastrophic nature of some progressions which generally coincide with a high Cobb angle right from the start, with low primary correction, and with non-compliance, the final Cobb angle showed a slight tendency to decrease but without reaching high significance. These preliminary results demonstrate that the Chêneau brace can effectively prevent the progression of Cobb and torsion angles, even in cases of bad prognosis.