This morning we straightened up Grace, a delightful 13 yo young lady from eastern North Carolina who had a 51 degree right thoracic adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS).
T5-L1 instrumentation and fusion with evoked potential monitoring.
Surgical time:  2 hrs 20 minutes.
EBL 375 cc
Correction:  excellent.
Complications:  none.

Wow — what a difference from the 105 degree scoliosis correction I did last Thursday, that I shared about in the last blog!  A 50 degree curve seemed like a walk in the park!  There really is an advantage of fixing the curves when they are a bit smaller (40-50 degree range) compared to much larger.  The smaller curves are more flexible, less rotated, and probably a bit safer to fix.  Surgical times are also much less —  half the curve size, half the time!  This emphasizes the importance for careful longitudinal follow-up for children and adolescents with scoliosis and kyphosis.  A stitch in time saves 9, or at least makes the job much simpler to fix!

Yesterday we helped an attorney from eastern North Carolina who was losing the use of both arms, and had clumsiness in both arms and legs.  His MRI showed severe spinal stenosis at C34 and C45.  I took the pressure off the spinal cord anteriorly with 2 level ACDF procedure.  His arms and legs felt better in the recovery room, and he went home today doing well.  He has a huge wonderful family, who were all here, including his 3 boys, their wives and his grand kids!  Great supportive family.

Yesterday I also helped a lady who had severe spinal stenosis at L34 and L45 above an L5S1 instrumentation and fusion I had done for her back at DUMC – Duke Medical Center back around 10 years ago.  She’s doing well now, getting up and around.

Carly, our 105 degree adolescent idiopathic scoliosis from last Thursday did great, and went home from hospital this past Sunday looking great.

Hope you are all doing well.

Dr. Lloyd Hey
Hey Clinic