Juvenile and idiopathic kyphosis. Long-term follow-up of 20 cases.

Twelve patients with juvenile kyphosis and eight patients with idiopathic kyphosis were reviewed at an average follow-up of 19 years. The average age of the patients at follow-up was 33 years (range 26-45 years). All the patients but one, who had a posterior fusion of the dorsal spine, had been treated with a plaster cast jacket followed by a plastic brace. At the end of treatment there had been an improvement of about 30% on the original curves in both juvenile and idiopathic kyphosis. At follow-up, however, all the patients had lost the correction obtained and the curves had become worse than originally, those in idiopathic kyphosis more so than those in juvenile kyphosis. Despite the increase in their angular deformity, all the patients managed fairly well and only two complained of distressing back pain.