MedTerms Medical Dictionary

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Scoliosis, structural: A fixed lateral (sideway) curve of the spine.

Structural scoliosis often occurs from unknown factors without reference to other physical problems (idiopathic scoliosis). It tends to affect girls during adolescence.

Structural scoliosis can also be part of a syndrome or disease. Examples of conditions that can result in structural scoliosis are: Marfan syndrome (an inherited connective tissue disorder); other connective tissue disorders; neuromuscular diseases (such as cerebral palsy, poliomyelitis, or muscular dystrophy); birth defects (such as hemivertebra, in which one side of a vertebra fails to form normally before birth); injury; certain infections of the spine; tumors (such as those caused by neurofibromatosis, an hereditary disease associated with benign tumors on the spinal column); metabolic (biochemical) diseases; or some arthritic diseases.

Structural scoliosis is different than nonstructural (functional) scoliosis in which the spine appears to have a lateral curve (scoliosis) but it is structurally normal.

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