I saw this this woman in her mid-50’s from Virginia with her husband on Friday, who had a Harrington Rod fusion as a teenager, and now has progressive back and radiating thigh pain.  It even is painful to turn over when sleeping.  You can see from her CT myelogram that there is an extremely tight “pinch” or stenosis just below her Harrington rod, and that she also has flat back syndrome.

She is anxious about considering surgery, since she had a horrible experience as a teenager with surgery and a body cast for 9 months — almost like a PTSD problem for her.

We are going to try some conservative treatments, but epidural injection already did not help, since stenosis is just so tight.  If the conservative treatment fails, there is hope for her with surgery, and we could even do it in a less invasive / minimally invasive way without having to go in through her abdomen either anteriorly or laterally.

She asked if she could talk to some of my previous Harrington rod extension fusion patients, and I seemed to remember we had several patients on our YouTube channel as a good next step.  As you can see from the long list, we have had a lot of experience helping not just children and adolescents, but many adults with scoliosis and kyphosis, including those needing revision extension work.  We also do have previous patients, who in certain cases we connect with our patients considering surgery, which is our “Surgery Buddy System.”  But, our Blog, searching on keywords, as well as the YouTube channel is a great place to start.

Maybe some of these patient stories will help some of you as well?

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

Here are a few YouTube links for you: