Lack of In-Brace X-Rays in Compliant AIS Patients Wearing Full-Time TLSO Braces Associates with Failure
Abstract BackgroundIn-brace correction and brace compliance with Thoraco-Lumbo-Sacral Orthotic (TLSO) braces are associated with successful treatment of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS). This paper compares patients who had consistent radiographic documentation of in-brace correction to those who did not.MethodsAll skeletally immature (Risser 0–2) patients were treated for AIS (25°-45°) with full-time TLSO braces that had compliance temperature monitors. All patients wore their braces at least 12 hours a day. Brace failure was defined as curve progression to a surgical magnitude (≥ 50°). All patients were followed until brace discontinuation.Results90 patients (F:82, M:8) with an average age of 12.1(10.1–15.0) years, Risser grade 0(0–2), BMI percentile 48.5(0.0-98.8), and daily brace wear of 16.5(12.1–21.6) hrs/day were treated for 24.3(8.0-66.6) months. Patients went through 1.7(1–4) braces on average. 42/90(46.7%) patients had some amount of brace time with an unknown in-brace correction, which, on average, was 66.1% of their total treatment course (11.5–100). On univariate analysis, patients that did not have a repeat in-brace x-ray with major brace adjustments or new brace fabrication tended to be more skeletally immature (Risser 0 and tri-radiate open, p = 0.028), wear more braces throughout their treatment (2.0 vs 1.4, p < 0.001), were treated for a longer period of time (27 vs 22 months, p = 0.022), and failed bracing more often (47.6% vs 22.9%, p = 0.014).ConclusionsPatients who did not have new in-brace x-rays with major brace adjustments and/or new brace fabrication were 3.1(95% CI 1.2–7.6) times more likely to fail bracing than patients who were re-checked with new in-brace x-rays.Trial Registration:ClinicalTrials.gov - NCT02412137, Initial Registration Date April 2015