This past week we helped a 39 yo athletic gentleman from Oklahoma who had long history of back pain related to an abnormally large thoracic kyphosis.  I have followed this patient for many years now, and his symptoms of pain have worsened over the past few years, although his thoracic curve has remained fairly stable around 61 degrees or so.

Over the years, he has experienced pain in thoracic region, as well as in the neck and lower back region that has inhibited his quality of life.  It has also affected his self-image, and has concerns about future possible progression since he has had older family members who have had significant kyphotic deformity.

This past week, we performed a T1-L1 posterior instrumentation and fusion with instrumentation, and were able to get a significant correction of his kyphosis.

In the series of pictures above, you can see his kyphosis on the OR table at the start of surgery.  Even when he is lying down prone, his kyphosis is quite noticable.
The second picture shows the two titanium rods inserted at top of the spine, which are then gradually brought down one section at a time to do a gradual reduction of the kyphosis.
The final picture shows the posture after the rods are inserted with improvement in the overall contour.

This had a dramatic effect on his appearance when standing.

He and his wifee are flying back to Oklahoma tomorrow with a whole new posture, about an inch taller!

As we have discussed in other Blogs, an abnormally large thoracic kyphosis can cause pain over the thoracic area, as well as in the lumbar area and the cervical area that need to go into hyper-lordosis to “compensate” for the thoracic kyphosis, which can cause pain.

Lloyd A. Hey, MD MS
Hey Clinic for Scoliosis and Spine Surgery
Raleigh, NC  USA
https://www.heyclinic.com