Effectiveness of preoperative Cotrel traction for correction of idiopathic scoliosis.

Of 206 patients less than twenty years old with idiopathic scoliosis of 40 to 90 degrees treated with Harrington distraction rods and fusion, ninety had preoperative Cotrel traction and 116 received no immediate preoperative treatment. There was no significant difference between these two groups in terms of the immediate surgical correction obtained. Cotrel traction therefore did not improve the results of treatment of idiopathic scoliosis of this degree in this age group.