Test May Help Better Predict Scoliosis
BOSTON (CBS) -- Nikki Koval is an active 11-year-old, running around and playing sports. "I play soccer, basketball, and horse back riding."
But she recently was diagnosed with mild scoliosis and admits, "I was a little scared at first."
And until now, there was no way to tell how bad the scoliosis would get. Nikki was facing the possibility of maybe having to wear a brace or having surgery and endless testing.
WBZ-TV's Paula Ebben reports.
Dr. Suken Shah at Dupont Hospital for Children says there's now a quick and easy way to better predict the future of scoliosis patients. It's a saliva based DNA scoliosis test called ScoliScore. "Now we can treat those patients that need to be treated and ones that are going to stay mild we can let them go on and live their normal lives, and not have to be subjected to repeat x-rays and doctors visits."
Patients like Nikki provide a saliva sample. That's then sent to a lab and her DNA is compared to other DNA with known scoliosis markers. The patient is then given a score.
Dr. Shah explains, "If your risk score is 1 to 50, you have a 99 percent chance of that curve not progressing to a severe curve. And that's very key. And that's the vast majority of patients tested."
Nikki found out she is at low risk for progression and no longer has to worry about having to give.
The scoliosis test is currently for certain children between the age of 9 and 13 and is covered by most insurance companies.
