Vertebral Body Tether of Lumbar Scoliosis Curves 

Over the last 15 years there has been an increasing interest from patients and families in non-fusion solutions for scoliosis.  Vertebral Body Stapling (VBS) was the first non-fusion technique reported for treatment of idiopathic scoliosis, in the 1950s.  Due to the lack of advance implant technology the technique disappeared for 40+ years, but re-appeared in […]

Spine Deformity Surgical Wound Healing

Back in July (7-28-2020) I published two blog post on spine wounds, specifically the concepts and methods used to close the incisions used during spine surgery, mainly posterior spinal fusion incisions in pediatric and adolescent patients. As I explained previously the goal in the end is a nice narrow (or thin) scar which blends into […]

“Internal Dis-traction”

The last 4 posts have been on spine traction, and this is the last one, which details the third type traction we use in pediatric and adolescent spine deformity surgery: Temporary Intra-operative Distraction Rods (TIDR).  This type of traction, like Halo-Gravity and Intraoperative Halo-Femoral Traction, are used for the correction of severe scoliosis.  Each of […]

Intraoperative Halo-femoral Traction Part 2

In nonambulatory neuromuscular scoliosis (i.e. cerebral palsy, spinal muscle atrophy, myelomeningocoele, muscular dystrophy) progressive scoliosis with long, sweeping curves can cause significant tipping of the hips which can create sitting imbalance, pressure sores and pain.              12 year old female with spastic quadriplegic CP   The goal of surgical treatment […]