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SRS Meeting in Stockholm: Isico is there!

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In September Isico will be at the forefront of the 57th Scoliosis Research Society Annual Meeting, scheduled from 14 to 17 September in Stockholm, Sweden, where our experts will present several studies.
The 57th Annual Meeting is a hybrid event that draws over 1500 attendees and includes a robust in-person program live from the Waterfront Congress Center in Stockholm, and the virtual component allowing delegates who are unable to attend in-person to enjoy the SRS Annual Meeting from the comfort of their home or office.
Faculty-led instructional course lectures, case discussions and abstract papers will be presented on an array of topics, including adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, growing spine, kyphosis, adult deformity, minimally invasive surgery, machine learning, and mental health considerations.

On September 16, prof. Stefano Negrini, scientific director of Isico, will present two works “Prediction of Future Curve Severity in Idiopathic Scoliosis Between Age 6 and Skeletal Maturity Without Treatment: A Validated Natural History Model” and “Natural History of Idiopathic Scoliosis: Validated Models of Curve Progression for Three Group Ages (Pre, At and Post Growth Spurt) “; while the following day he will be the moderator of the presentation of other papers.
Instead, Dr Sabrina Donzelli, physiatrist at Isico will present the study “Bracing Improves Curves and Aesthetics in Risser 3-4 Adolescents With 30 to 45 ° Curves. Retrospective Results From a Cohort of 1104 Consecutive Patients“.

For more information or to register for the event, visit the website dedicated to the conference https://www.srs.org/am

Isico among the attendees of the November SRS webinar

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A new webinar for professionals is scheduled for November 7, part of the cycle of those organized in recent months by the SRS (available on the pages of the society’s website).

Two specialists from Isico, our scientific director, Prof. Stefano Negrini and Dr. Fabio Zaina, Isico physiatrist will be taking part in this online event titled Current Status of Bracing in Adults and Adolescents:An SRS-SOSORT Collaboration.

Join the SRS Non-Operative Committee and the Society on Scoliosis Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Treatment (SOSORT) for a webinar analyzing the current evidence and practice guidelines for bracing for adolescent and adult patients with spinal deformity.

This webinar will provide a systematic analysis of the current evidence and best practice guidelines for bracing management of patients with spinal deformity in both adolescents and adults. With variations in brace design and documentation of long-term benefits, use the consensus discussed to clarify your current practice and brace selections.
There will be an update on the current training of Orthotists, including specialization, fabrication, fitting and deformity correction.

To register please visit the page of the SRS website

Dress green with us in June!

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As every year, Isico dresses in green throughout June with a particular initiative. During the four weeks of the month, we will launch mini videos with the “Best” of each edition of the Concorsetto, the Isico competition dedicated to those who wear the corset to offer a series of testimonials from those who live with the corset in their daily lives.
Recall that National Scoliosis Awareness Month occurs every June to underline the importance of early diagnosis and public awareness of scoliosis and its prevalence within the community.
Initialised more than a decade ago by the Scoliosis Research Society, the oldest scientific society dealing with scoliosis, founded in 1966, this campaign aims to raise public awareness of scoliosis and related spinal deformities through educational campaigns and the defence of local activities and community events during June and throughout the year.
There is a green ribbon to characterise the campaign throughout the month and a day for this 2021 edition, June 26th, to tell the own story, a personal one or that of a friend or a family member, to spread the awareness of the existence of this pathology.
Everyone can participate in the campaign, just like us at Isico: sharing the green ribbon on the social profile, posting participation or even only a photo or a story are all ways to make this pathology known. Or follow our Social profiles and share our mini-videos “The Best of Concorsetto”, with the hashtag #scoliosisawarenessmonth.
Knowing about scoliosis is already a first important step towards its recognition; the sooner this happens, the better it is to be able to intervene with adequate therapy.
Mark the month of June in green and leave your green mark on June 26th!

Here you have the full video The best of Concorsetto

SRS research evaluates AIS brace management

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The research Scoliosis Research Society survey: brace management in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis has just been published by the journal Spine Deformities. While the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) has established criteria for brace initiation in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), there are no recommendations concerning other management issues. As the BrAIST study reinforced the utility of bracing, the SRS Non-Operative Management Committee decided to evaluate the consensus or discord in AIS brace management developing this research.

1200 SRS members were sent an online survey in 2017, which included 21 items concerning demographics, bracing indications, management, and monitoring.

218 SRS members participated in the survey: 207 regularly evaluate and manage patients with AIS, and 205 currently prescribe bracing.  99% of respondents use bracing for AIS and the majority (89%) use the published SRS criteria, or a modified version, to initiate bracing. 85% do not use brace monitoring and 66% use both Cobb correction and fit criteria to evaluate brace adequacy. 

“From the research it emerges that in practice the variability is very large – explains Dr Sabrina Donzelli, physiatrist and researcher at Isico – the treatment protocols, the hours of wearing, the time elapsed between visits, the radiographs required, with or without brace, with what times and after how many hours of break, the brace-weaning protocols, vary considerably from one specialist to another”.

In the United States, the use of braces is recent, it spread after the publication of the results of the BrAIST study: “The management of therapies and treatments is affected by the inexperience of specialists – continues Dr Donzelli – often the indications given to patients are not precise, they are not justified by the objectives of the treatment and they are not supported by strong motivations deriving from clinical experience. Or at least this is what emerges from the survey “.
What then is the conclusion of the research? 
This variability may impact the overall efficacy of brace treatment and may be decreased with more robust guidelines from the SRS. Furthermore, brace therapy must be personalised in a pathology so complex that it cannot be simplified: “The dosage with which the brace is prescribed must be correlated with the therapeutic goal to be achieved – states Dr Donzelli – Risser 0, 1 or 2 is characterised by different progression risks, the extent of the starting curve changes the treatment objectives: sometimes it is necessary to improve the curve, sometimes it is enough to stabilise. The type of brace to be used varies according to the type of curve, their localization and the estimated evolutionary risks of the curve correlated with the problems in adult life. I want to add to the research  – concludes Dr Donzelli – that they only considered the use of the brace, nothing is said about the role of exercises, of which several research studies have efficacy already proven, alone or in association with the brace itself as for example these articles https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25729406/ and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30145241/ published by Isico”.

Natural History of Scoliosis: the development of a predictive model

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There are two abstracts on the natural history of scoliosis that Isico is going to present at the 56th SRS conference scheduled for next September in the United States: “Predicting Future Curve Severity for Juvenile Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Natural History Study” and “Predicting Future Curve Severity Requires Different Models for Adolescent and Juvenile Idiopathic Scoliosis “.
Abstracts which constitute research carried out by Isico in collaboration with the Canadian University of Alberta and Dr Erik Parent. The preliminary results of this research study will be presented by Prof Stefano Negrini at the Research Grant Outcome Symposium organized by SRS and scheduled for March 6 from 9 to 11 ET US.
Most models to predict future Scoliosis severity have not been validated; many previous samples included treated patients limiting our understanding of the natural history. 

“Our aim was to predict future curve severity at a time point of the clinician’s choice during adolescence using data from x-rays obtained before starting treatment in patients with a diagnosis of Juvenile Idiopathic Scoliosis (JIS) – explains dr Sabrina Donzelli, one of the authors of this research study – we included 2331 patients with a diagnosis of JIS, under age 26, previously untreated.
The data obtained through the radiographs confirm the factors involved in the severity of scoliosis: for juvenile scoliosis the age at onset and the extent of the curve, and for adolescent scoliosis the Risser stage and female gender. The idea is to optimize the use of this data for clinical purposes “.

That is, to be able to validate the model to verify  whether it works for another population with similar characteristics. “During the webinar to which I have been invited – says Prof. Negrini – I will present the preliminary data not only of the two abstracts but also of the other analyses developed by the Canadian university. As a team, we are continuing to validate one model with which we can create an algorithm to predict the cases with the highest development risk.”