Rotation of the spinal cord in idiopathic scoliosis

Abstract

We undertook a radiographic analysis with pre-operative computed tomographic myelography in 78 patients with idiopathic scoliosis in order to analyse rotation of the spinal cord and to investigate its clinical significance. The angle of rotation of the cord had a statistically significant relationship to both that of the apical vertebra and the size of the primary curve. The relationship between the rotation of the cord and that of the apical vertebra was divided into three types. The cord rotated in the same direction as the apical vertebra in 55 patients and rotated in the opposite direction in the remaining 23 patients. In the first group, the angle of rotation of the cord was more than that of the vertebra in six patients, but less than it in 49 patients. These results suggest that the neuraxis in idiopathic scoliosis may be under tension in the axial dimension. © 2004 British Editorial Society of Bone and Joint Surgery.