Congenital Scoliosis

Congenital scoliosis is the type that developed because your child’s spine didn’t form correctly in utero. Some of the vertebrae (vertebral segments) in his/her spine formed abnormally (failure of formation), didn’t separate correctly (failure of segmentation) or there was some combination of both. As a result, spine has a side-to-side curvature that has a high chance of progressing (worsening) if not treated surgically.

Because the spine forms at the same time as certain other organ systems in the first six weeks of pregnancy, many of the affected children have one or more other improperly formed systems. This means that your child’s genitourinary, cardiac, auditory, nervous (neurological, neural) or renal system(s) may also have formed incorrectly or incompletely. Additional problems of the spine or spinal cord can also be associated with congenital scoliosis.