Spinal deformities are well documented in history dating back to King Tutankhamen, the Egyptian boy pharaoh who was said to have had a curved spine. The terms scoliosis, lordosis, and kyphosis are credited to the Greek physicians Hippocrates and Galen. Scoliosis is derived from a Greek word meaning crooked. Today, it describes a lateral (ie, side-to-side) curvature of the spine greater than 10° and typically is combined with a rotation of the vertebrae and a reduced forward curvature of the spine (ie, kyphosis).3 Scoliosis is classified broadly as idiopathic or nonidio-pathic, with approximately 80% of the disease being idiopathic (ie, having no known underlying cause).4 Evaluation of the disease and determination of its cause rely heavily on medical imaging. Radiography is the standard diagnostic imaging modality, with computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging used as adjuncts. The disease can occur at any age, but it is diagnosed most commonly in children and adolescents. Adolescent scoliosis (age 11-17 years) represents 90% of diagnoses, juvenile scoliosis (age 4-10 years) represents 10% to 15%, and infantile scoliosis (age 0-3 years) accounts for 1% of diagnoses. In the adult population, scoliosis has a prevalence of approximately 8% in individuals 25 years or older; prevalence increases by 68% in individuals 61 years or older because of degenerative changes in the aging spine.
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