Evaluation of the effectiveness of scoliosis braces designed based on CAD/CAM and manual casting. A review of literature

Various methods of conservative treatment have being used to control the progression of scoliosis, including physical therapy and brace. Actually there are two main approaches for fabrication of scoliotic braces. However, the main question posted here is that whether the braces produced based on CAD/CAM approach is more effective (To reduce the scoliosis curve based on Cobb angle) than the braces fabricated by manual casting or not. Therefore, the aim of this review was to compare the effectiveness of braces produced by CAD/CAM and manual method based on the available literature. Moreover, it was aimed to compare the quality of life of scoliotic subjects treated by the braces produced based on two mentioned approaches. A search was done in some data bases such as Google Scholar, PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge, Ebsco and Scopus. CAD/CAM key word was used in combination with scoliosis. The quality of the studies was determined by use of Black and Down tool. Actually 9 papers were found on combination of CAD/CAM and scoliosis in which, 5 papers were on comparison of the efficiency of the brace designed based on manual method and CAD/CAM. The other papers were on evaluation of the efficiency of the braces designed based on CAD/CAM with and without finite element analysis. The quality of the papers varied between 9 and 16. It can be concluded from the available studies that the braces designed based on CAD/CAM approach are lighter and more comfortable than the braces designed based on traditional method. However, there seems to be no difference between the effectiveness of the braces fabricated by CAD/CAM and manual casting.