This paper reports a new method for expressing numerically asymmetry of the contour of the back in a forward-bending position. Information is given at three spinal levels (T8, T12 and L3) for 636 schoolchildren aged 8 to 15 years. Rib-hump and lumbar-hump scores were standardised to create trunk asymmetry scores (TASs) making comparison possible between children of different age, size and sex. Two groups of children were defined: those with clinically straight spines (585 children); and those with clinical evidence of lateral spinal curves (51 children). In the children with clinically straight spines the main findings were: about 1:4 had objectively detectable rib and lumbar humps; female-to-male ratios were 1.2:1 for the thoracic region and 1.4:1 for the lumbar region; right humps were about 10 times more common than left; TASs in the boys and girls at each spinal level had normal distributions about means to the right of zero (where zero represents perfect symmetry); at T8 and T12, a wider scatter of TASs in girls than in boys; at L3, larger TASs in girls than in boys; a relation between shortening of one lower limb and a contralateral hump on the back; and no relation to age (except at L3), stature (corrected for age) or handedness. The findings are discussed in relation to possible causes of back contour asymmetry, early diagnosis of scoliosis by screening, sexual dimorphism and significance for the pathogenesis of idiopathic scoliosis. Ten children with clinically straight spines and larger TASs, and 42 out of 51 children with clinical evidence of lateral spinal curves in the forward-bending position attended for radiographic examination. Twelve children had "scoliosis curves" of 11 degrees or more as defined by the Scoliosis Research Society. The results are reported in relation to TASs, spinal curve angle (Cobb) and vertebral rotation.

Of 41 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed osteogenic sarcoma admitted to the Children's Orthopedic Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, between 1952 and 1977, 19 treated before 1973 did not receive adjunctive chemotherapy (histological group) whereas after 1972 22 have been so treated (chemotherapy group). Chemotherapy consisted primarily of high doses of methotrexate and adriamycin for 16 months after surgical treatment. Patients in the historical group have been observed for a minimum of nine years (six patients) or until death (13 patients). The 13 surviving patients in the chemotherapy group have been followed for a minimum of three years (median five years) and all 12 disease-free patients have been off therapy for between one and a half and five and a half years (median three years). Overall, the chemotherapy group has had a significant increase in both survival (p = 0.03) and disease-free survival (P = 0.02) compared to the historical group. In 35 patients with localised disease at diagnosis, the three-year disease-free survival and the three-year survival rates were 18 per cent and 41 per cent respectively in the historical group, and 67 per cent and 78 per cent (life table estimates) respectively in the chemotherapy group. With adjunctive chemotherapy only one of the seven patients developing pulmonary metastases did so later than nine months after diagnosis. The superior results in the chemotherapy group could not be accounted for by differences in age, sex, presence of metastases at diagnosis, histopathology, location of primary tumour, type of initial or subsequent surgical treatment, or the use of standard or computerised lung tomography. Although the use of historical controls in this study does not exclude other changes as contributing to the observed improvement in outcome, our data support the contention that adjunctive chemotherapy improves both the disease-free survival and the overall survival of patients with osteosarcoma and rarely delays the onset of recurrent or metastatic disease.

An anteroposterior radiograph of the leg to include the hip and ankle, taken with the patient standing, provides an estimate of the line of load-bearing at the knee. Gait analysis may be used to determine the way in which the load in the knee is shared between the medial and lateral compartments during normal walking. A comparison of the results from the two methods, carried out on a group of 47 patients, led to the conclusion that both calculations are required for the successful outcome of a tibial osteotomy or a total arthroplasty.