Lung function in congenital and idiopathic scoliosis.

The vital capacity (VC) in patients with congenital scoliosis was compared with the VC in idiopathic scoliosis. For any given Cobb angle (a measure of spinal angulation) the loss in VC was approximately 15% greater in congenital scoliosis than in idiopathic scoliosis. The greater impairment of lung function in congenital scoliosis may be due to the associated rib deformity or to an underlying lung anomaly.