Abstract
The authors retrospectively investigated the incidence and shape of the degenerative lumbar scoliosis by roentgenograms in orthopaedic outpatients. The authors examined 1309 consecutive patients who had lumbar roentgenograms, and found 109 patients (30 males, 79 females) had lumbar curves greater than 10°. The mean age was 71.7 years (25-94 years). The authors excluded idiopathic scoliosis. Curves were measured by the Cobb's method. The incidence of degenerative lumbar scoliosis was 8.3%. The mean Cobb's angle was 14.9°(10-56°). The incidence of the degenerative lumbar scoliosis were 0.3% in the patients under 40 years old, 2.8% in 5th decade, 5.1% in 6th decade, 8.1% in 7th decade, 18.0% in 8th decade, 15.0% over 80 years older. The incidence of scoliosis increased with age.
We classified the scoliosis into single and double curve patterns. The single curve pattern was seen in 66 patients and the double curve pattern was seen in 43 patients. There were no significant differences between the two groups regarding the Cobb angle, vertebral rotation or clinical findings. The greatest degenerative wedge deformity of the disc space was found at L3/4 in single curves (48.0%) and L4/5 in double curves (83.7%).
