To evaluate the relationship between the degree of scoliotic curvature and postoperative change of the chest wall among patients who underwent a unilateral mastectomy.

Subjects were comprised of 56 women who underwent chest CT and a whole spine standing anteroposterior view (WSSAP). Cobb's angle and each side of the chest wall volume, including the breast, were measured with the WSSAP and a 3-D reconstructed multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) image. A correlation analysis was performed between the scoliotic curvature and chest wall volume asymmetry. Directional correspondence between development of scoliosis and undergoing a mastectomy was analyzed. Furthermore, a survey on patient shoulder function was performed using a questionnaire and a correlation was performed between the results of the survey and the scoliotic curvature and chest wall volume asymmetry.

The findings indicate that Cobb's angles were 4.4° ± 2.7 (Mean ± SD, range from 0.6 to 11.4). Differences in chest wall volume were 474.64 ± 276.36 cm³ (Mean ± SD, range from 78 to 1379). No statistical significance was noted between the degree of scoliotic curvature and chest wall volume asymmetry (p > 0.05). A cross-tabulation analysis of the direction between the scoliotic curvature and mastectomy was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.001). Also, there was a significant correlation between shoulder function assessment score and the degree of scoliotic curvature (p = 0.003), while no significant correlation between shoulder function assessment score and chest wall volume asymmetry (p = 0.091) could be found.

Scoliotic change had a tendency to be on the opposite side of the mastectomy and had no statistically significant relationship with the volume asymmetry. Thus, 3-D reconstructed MDCT images are helpful in differentiating selective volume differences.