13 yo young lady with 51 degree thoracolumbar scoliosis fixed this am

Well I'm back to work after being off for a week for a little break, and also to attend and present at the annual Piedmont Orthopedic Society Meeting held down in Florida this past week.  It is good to be back to North Carolina!  Will share more about my talk in future blogs.  It was great to see many of my former Duke Residents at this conference, and my other Duke friends and mentors including Dr. William Richardson, William Hardaker, Jim Nunley, Jim Urbaniak and many more.

This morning I got to see Rachel, a 13 yo young lady with severely progressive thoracolumbar adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) with her folks in the preop area here at Duke Raleigh Hospital.  Rachel and her parents asked if I could "blog" her X-Rays right away so their friends and family back in Texas could get the word that she did well!!  Well here you go!

Got an awesome correction, T5-L3, with estimated blood loss 550 cc, 250 cc of which was given back to her as cell saver.  No blood transfused.  Surgical time almost exactly 3 hours skin to skin.

She is now waking up, and I'm off to show her folks the X-Rays in our special conference room.


Early this morning I saw an 18 yo young lady graduating from High School who was braced for scoliosis for several years, and thought she was all done a couple years ago when she was done growing and her curve was around 30 degrees.  Surprise!!  X-Ray now shows her curve is over 40 degrees with big progression of her right thoracic rib hump.  It is important to realize that bracing does not always work, and that adolescents who are done growing should continue to be followed every year for repeat X-Rays at least until age 25, and then 5 years thereafter. 

Enough Blogging. Time to go talk to the family!  It is good to be back.  Sandra and Sheila, some of my favorite scrubs who have worked consistently on "Team Hey"since I've been at Duke Raleigh past almost 8 years were here as well as wonderful "Nurse Kelly"  and great CRNA's and neuro monitoring folks. 

Hello to all of Rachel's friends and family, especially those out in Texas!!

Dr. Lloyd Hey
Hey Clinic for Scoliosis and Spine Surgery
http://www.heyclinic.com