Blog Topic           What is the Sanders Maturity Scale for bone age?              5-23-2021

 

In the last blog post we discussed the Risser sign, a classic method to estimate bone age to predict the amount spinal growth remaining in adolescents with scoliosis.  As you see from the last diagram in that post, the Risser sign doesn’t show up until AFTER the peak height velocity. 

So why does this matter?

The faster the spine grows, the greater the risk of significant progression of the scoliosis.  The fastest time of spine growth is in the first 3 years of life (see below diagram, area in light red).

 

But the second fastest time of spine growth is during the pubertal growth phase (see below, area in light green box), and is one we call the “Peak Height Velocity”.

Using the graph above, spine growth is fairly constant between 6 and 11 years of age.  It is helpful to know before the growth acceleration occurs so we can have discussions with families about the risk of progression and the need for various types of treatment.  Bracing is a commonly used technique, but it works better in smaller, more flexible curves and it mainly tries to prevent progression, not improve the deformity.  If you want prevent curve progression, then bracing needs to be started prior to the pubertal growth spurt.

As you see below, the Sanders Maturity Scale has three more stages than Risser, and all of them are earlier making estimation of risk more precise.

If we extrapolate the lines (below) you can better appreciate how the Sanders Maturity Scale helps identify spine growth earlier than the Risser sign

 

 

To assess the Sanders Maturity Scale the hand is used, so a single hand radiograph/x-ray needs to be obtained.  It doesn’t matter which hand.

If we order a hand radiograph/x-ray it’s because we want to get a better idea of the person’s bone age so we can have more precise discussions about progression risks and treatment.