The thermal emission from the skin and the vascularity of the breasts in normal and scoliotic girls.

The vascularity of the breasts was examined by thermographic and diaphanographic methods in normal and scoliotic girls. The thermal emission from the skin registered with an AGA Thermovision 750 camera (Stockholm, Sweden) on black and white Polaroid film was evaluated visually by 10 independent observers. No significant differences between the thermal images of the left and the right breast were found in the control or scoliotic groups or in girls with a right convex thoracic curve, nor was there any significant difference between the groups in this respect. Image analysis of diaphanograms of the breasts using the GOP 300 system showed a significantly greater vascularity of the left breast than of the right, both in the scoliotic series as a whole and in the subgroup with a right convex thoracic curve, but not for the reference group. The vascularity of the left breast but not of the right one was significantly greater for the girls with a right convex thoracic curve than for the control group. The results of the diaphanographic study confirm earlier observations and together provide substantial evidence that unilateral stimulation of rib growth due to a greater vascularity of the left breast and the underlying costosternal junctions might be one initiating factor in the development of right convex thoracic idiopathic scoliosis in adolescent girls.