Relationship Between Intervertebral Disc Morphology and Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis

Abstract

Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is an abnormal 3-dimensional curvature of the spine that appears in youth. In progressive cases, a small curve may be augmented rapidly and leads the victim to a high-risk surgical operation. Recognition of the AIS in the early stage can help in treating it with noninvasive methods. The goal of the study was to examine the relationship between intervertebral disc morphology and AIS as an applicable index and useful method for developing the screening and recognition of AIS before the start of disease. Based on a biomechanical model, we examined the relationship between AIS and intervertebral disc morphology in the thoracic and lumbar region separately and comparatively. For this purpose, the mean disc height (MDH) in the thoracic (MDHT) and lumbar (MDHL) regions and mean ratio of disc height per vertebral radius (MDHPVR) in the thoracic (MDHPVRT) and lumbar (MDHPVRL) regions were compared between 20 girls with AIS and 20 normal girls as the control group by using magnetic resonance imaging. Although there was a significant difference between the AIS and control group in MDHT (P = .004) and MDHPVRT (P = .006), this difference was more significant in the lumbar region (MDHL, P < .0001, and MDHPVRL, P < .0001). According to obtained results, the relation of MDHPVR and scoliosis can be established and used to develop as a screening method for diagnosis and treatment of adolescents who are exposed to scoliosis disorder at an early stage.

Morphological changes of Intervertebral Disc detectable by T2-weighted MRI and its correlation with curve severity in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis

“…The observed uneven anteroposterior disc wedge might be caused by the vertebral compression during progression of the spinal deformity. Our results also show that there was a significant correlation between the IVD wedging with curve severity which are consistent with the literatures [ 17 , 18 ]. Moreover, there is an increasing trend in VB and IVD wedging when compared between the asymptomatic controls, non-severe AIS and severe-AIS groups.…”

“…The significant volume loss of IVD and NP observed in severe-AIS might be explained as a consequence of the spinal deformity. Current literatures have often heterogenetic cohorts of AIS subjects for investigation and these studies only demonstrated vertebral measurements in imaging using mixed curve severity, mixed curve type or mixed gender [9,10,17,18,24]. However, there is an inhomogeneity in AIS subjects and different treatment planning should be determined and offered based on their curve magnitude in Cobb angle.…”

“…Additionally, other biomechanical and biochemical studies suggested that there was a correlation between the spinal deformity and IVD [11][12][13]. There was a relationship between the wedging of intervertebral discs (IVD)/vertebral bodies (VB) and spinal rapid growth in AIS with curve progression [13][14][15][16][17][18]. Likewise, vertebral wedging was also found to be associated with Cobb angle [14][15][16]19].…”