Noninvasive assessment of postural scoliosis: A systematic review

Abstract

Scoliosis is a three-dimensional deviation of the vertical line of the spine, often difficult to visualize and quantify. Hence, several studies have developed methodologies for its evaluation. Even so, an incipient discussion exists about which one is the most suitable method. The objective of this systematic review is to verify the existence of scientific evidence on alternative methods for noninvasive assessment of scoliosis. It was conducted a systematic search in the databases Scopus, Science Direct and PubMed, with the key-words: Non-invasive Monitoring [OR] Assessing Postural Assessment [OR] Postural Evaluation [OR] Assessing Postural Evaluation Methods [AND] Scoliosis [OR] Spinal Curvatures [OR] Spinal Deformity [OR] Spine Curvatures. Adopting the following inclusion criteria: addressing patients with scoliosis and involve assessment postural noninvasive, and exclusion: not describe the evaluation method used or approach treatment and not be written in English. At the beginning, 200 articles were found. After checking the titles and abstracts, eight articles were selected and 12 articles were included in the bibliographical references (i.e. an overall number of 20 articles). Of these, 18 studies were included in the quality criteria. Overall, the studies showed satisfactory results for the evaluation of scoliosis, being observed differences between the methods in time needed to perform the evaluation, system cost, complexity of the procedures to be carried out and data collected. These systems do not replace X-ray as gold-standard, even though it can be used to reduce the radiation exposure.