40 yo woman with painful thoracolumbar curve fixed yesterday; 11 yo 50 degree thoracolumbar adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) to be fixed this morning

Yesterday we straightened up a 40 yo woman with painful collapsing thoracolumbar scoliosis, just under 40 degrees.  She had been suffering with back pain for quite some time, and it was definitely affecting her posture and appearance.  She developed a lateral spondylolisthesis at L34 as a result of the curve, with the L3 vertebra gradually sliding downhill on the sloped L4 vertebra, resulting in progressive disc degeneration and facet arthritis.

Her surgery went very well, and fortunately as shown on her MRI, her L45 and L5S1 discs were still in good shape, so we could stop her fusion at L4 rather than going to the pelvis/iliac wing.    We got her straightened up quite nicely, and her big hump on lower left back is gone, and "hourglass" figure restored.














This morning I am at WakeMed, here to straighten up an 11 yo young lady who has the same curve as the woman we straightened up yesterday.  This young lady has a 50 degree curve already, which is why we are fixing it now.  Will get you an update later.  Time to scrub in!

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