Clinical monitoring of torso deformities in scoliosis using structured splines models

This paper describes the use of structured splines indices for the clinical monitoring of torso deformity in scoliosis. Structured splines indices are computed from the distribution of points of maximal curvature (dominant points) of an object. The suitability and robustness of the indices for this application is assessed by ascertaining their robustness to inevitable torso shape variations due to sway and breathing and the variability in their values relative to existing clinical measures of deformity. To assess the consistency of these indices with other indices in use for this application, they were used to assess the relative information contents of the front and back of the torso. Results show that structured splines indices are more robust than existing clinical measures for monitoring torso deformity in scoliosis. Results also show that the scoliosis information content ratio of the back torso to the front torso is three to one.