Today in clinic I saw a delightful 42 yo woman, who actually was bringing her young adolescent daughter in for a scoliosis check.
The mom mentioned that she had scoliosis surgery done with a Harrington Rod by Dr. Ralph Coonrad when she was 13 years old, and has done great ever since.
She had not had an X-Ray in many years, so we offered to get her a screening X-Ray today.
Her fusion looks awesome, hardware is intact, and her 3 discs below the Harrington Rod fusion all are well preserved without flat back syndrome, or spondylolisthesis (slippage).
With her permission, I was able to forward her X-Rays to Dr. Coonrad, who seems to remember all 2,000 of the children he helped with scoliosis over the many years he worked out of Durham Regional Hospital. We have seen many of these adult patients back for follow-up, who all remember Dr. Coonrad with great warmth and thanksgiving.
It is important for scoliosis patients who have had fusions as a child or adolescent or young adult to get periodic checkups every 5 years or so to check for deformity or degeneration/slippaged below or above the old fusion. Finding a regional scoliosis center that can handle both children and adults is a good place to have this done.
It is great to see how well patients can do even decades after scoliosis fusion.
As mentioned in previous blog, trying to spare as many motion segments as possible is important to help maximize disc wear while also seeking to get best possible correction.
Lloyd A. Hey, MD MS
http://www.heyclinic.com
Hey Clinic for Scoliosis and Spine Surgery
Raleigh, NC USA