Nighttime bracing for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis with the Charleston Bending Brace: long-term follow-up.

We report long-term experience with the Charleston Bending Brace for treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. This brace holds the patient in maximal side-bending correction and is worn at nighttime only. Patients included in this prospective multicenter study met all of the following criteria: skeletal immaturity (Risser 0, 1, or 2), curvature >25 degrees before bracing, no prior treatment, and >1-year follow-up since completion of bracing (skeletal maturity or progression to surgery). All curves were monitored and reported. There were 149 structural curves in 98 patients. Sixty-five (66%) patients showed improvement or <5 degrees change in curvature. Seventeen (17%) patients progressed to the point of requiring surgery for their scoliosis. Based on these long-term results and improvement of the natural history of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, continued use of the Charleston Bending Brace is justified.