Purpose  

CAD/CAM technology is a newer technique for creating spinal orthoses than standard plaster molded methods. To our knowledge there has been only one previous study of CAD/CAM braces. The purpose of our study was to compare patient preference and in-brace correction of Cobb angle between plaster molded thoracolumbosacral orthoses (TLSO) and CAD/CAM designed TLSOs in a series of patients with scoliosis.

Methods  

Ten patients with an average initial Cobb angle of 30.8° (range 18°–46°) had both a plaster molded TLSO and a CAD/CAM TLSO fabricated for them. In each case, the decision to brace was made by the treating surgeon based on curve magnitude and skeletal maturity. After 3 weeks of 23 h a day wear, in-brace correction of the Cobb angle was measured for each brace based on standard PA spine radiographs. After 3 months of use, patients were asked which brace they preferred.

Results  

For the CAD/CAM brace, the mean curve correction after 3 months was 51% compared to 44% in the plaster molded TLSO cohort. (p = 0.46). Seven out of nine patients preferred the CAD/CAM TLSO over the plaster molded TLSO. There were no brace complications in either group.

Conclusion  

In our matched cohort study, CAD/CAM TLSOs had at least equivalent if not superior correction of the Cobb angle compared to standard plaster molded TLSOs; 78% of our patients preferred the CAD/CAM brace over the standard TLSO.