Breast asymmetry : a clinical sign of scoliosis ?

Details

Supervisors

Denoel, Christophe ; Mahaudens, Philippe

Faculty

Faculté des sciences de la motricité

Degree label

Master [60] en kinésithérapie et réadaptation

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determinate if a breast asymmetry can be a sign of scoliosis. If it was true, breast asymmetry could become a fast and non invasive technique to diagnose scoliosis. Furthermore, faced with a breast asymmetry, the plastic surgeon will remember that there can be a scoliosis associated in X% cases. Eventually the surgeon will pay more attention to the rib cage morphology which will influence the breast surgery result. Methodology: We compared the proportion of scoliosis and of the Cobb and rotation mean angles between two groups: a breast asymmetry group and a breast non asymmetry group. We also look after a correlation between breast asymmetry and scoliosis. Result: Even if there was no correlation between the importance of breast asymmetry and the severity of scoliosis (p=0.0535), we showed that there were 5.6 times more scoliotic deformity in the breast asymmetry group than in the breast non asymmetry group. We also showed that the Cobb angle mean was statistically (p=0,026) higher in the breast asymmetry group (7.67°) than in breast non asymmetric group (5.55°). Conclusion: Practically, in plastic surgery, it is useful to remember that faced with a breast asymmetry there could be a scoliosis in 28% cases. But in general population, a maximum of only 6% of women having a breast asymmetry would have a scoliosis, so we can not define breast asymmetry as a clinical sign of scoliosis.