Skin elastic fiber pathology and idiopathic scoliosis.

An antomic study of skin elastic fibers coupled with a histochemical and ultrastructural study of one peripheral muscle sample was performed in 34 patients with idiopathic scoliosis. Twenty-eight of them had an elastopathy resulting in rupture or disparity between the dermis elastic fibers. The muscle histoenzymologic study showed that 17 of the patients also had an abnormal predominance of type I muscle fibers. These data led to our discussion of the role of elastic tissue abnormalities in the genesis of early or severe idiopathic scolioses.