Description Of Scoliotic Deformity Pattern By Harmonic Functions

Frontal radiographs of scoliotic deformity of the spine reveal a characteristic pattern of lateral deviation, lateral tilt and axial rotation of vertebrae. In order to study interrelations between deformation parameters 478 radiographs of idiopathic scolioses, 23 of scolioses after Wilms-tumor treatment and 18 of scolioses following poliomyelitis were digitized. From these the curves of lateral deviation, tilt and rotation are calculated and fitted by Fourier series. By restriction to the first harmonic, analysis reduces to the analysis of a single phase and amplitude for each curve. Justification of this simplification will be discussed. Results provide a general geometric description of scoliotic deformity.