The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol 69, Issue 1 50-57, Copyright © 1987 by Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc
Scheuermann kyphosis. Follow-up of Milwaukee-brace treatment
B Sachs, D Bradford, R Winter, J Lonstein, J Moe and S Willson
From 1960 through 1978, a total of 274 patients who had a diagnosis of
Scheuermann kyphosis were treated with a Milwaukee brace at the Twin Cities
Scoliosis Center. We analyzed the long-term results in 120 patients who had
used the Milwaukee brace and had been followed for at least five years
after the completion of treatment. The average age of the patients at the
initiation of treatment was twelve years and five months, the average age
at the completion of treatment was sixteen years and one month, and the
average age at the last follow-up examination was twenty-four years. Of the
patients who wore the brace consistently, seventy-six showed improvement in
the kyphosis between the initial evaluation and the evaluation at final
follow-up, while twenty-four showed worsening and ten were unchanged. Seven
of the twenty-four patients who were worse had had surgery before the
review for this study. The indication for surgery was a kyphosis of more
than 60 degrees that was increasing and was not controlled by the brace.
Ten patients were inconsistent in their use of the brace. Two of the ten
patients had improvement and eight had worsening of the kyphosis; three of
the latter eight had a spinal fusion. This study showed that the Milwaukee
brace is usually an effective method of treatment for patients who have
Scheuermann kyphosis; however, four of fourteen patients who had an initial
kyphosis of more than 74 degrees required a spinal fusion.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Technorati What's this?
