I saw this lady in her 50’s this past week who drove all the way up from Savannah, GA who had minimally invasive surgery for her thoracolumbar scoliosis done in Georgia.  This was performed after a lumbar laminectomy surgery was performed in the first round, but that surgery only gave very temporary relief as her collapsing spine collapsed back down on the spinal nerve.  She was not interested in having a “big surgery” to help with her scoliosis and kyphosis, so  she had about a 5-6 hour minimally invasive surgery, focusing on her lower back.

Unfortunately, her posture continued to collapse, and her pain has gradually worsened with a quality of life which is now intolerable.  Her kyphosis with proximal junctional kyphosis is almost 90 degrees.

This will be a tough fix.  Minimally invasive surgery can be an effective treatment for some spinal disorders, but it probably makes sense to seek out second and third opinions from surgeons with significant spinal deformity experience, perhaps located through the Scoliosis Research Society (http://www.srs.org) website when considering deformity surgery.

Dr. Lloyd Hey — Hey Clinic for Scoliosis and Spine Surgery.