SP Tang, JCY Cheng, BKW Ng, TP Lam

Abstract

In the past four decades, considerable progresses have been made in the understanding of the clinical behavior and the pathoanatomy of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). Significant advances in the surgical treatment and instrumentation have also been observed. However, the definite etiology is still unclear and thus the current treatments are at best treating the complications of AIS rather than the direct underlying cause. The objective of this overview is to update our knowledge on the epidemiology, natural history of AIS, discuss a number of advances in the research related to the etiology of AIS and present a brief summary of the current concept of management.