Today's anterior/posterior reconstruction for severe flatback.

Ann is a delightful lady from Wilmington, NC who has had previous lumbar surgeries with fusions L2-S1. She now has severe adjacent level failure above and below he fusion with severe flat back syndrome with trouble standing up straight and severe spinal stenosis at L1-2 causing clumsiness and trouble walking.  I did a quick video this morning of me explaining this to Ann's husband Dr. W which is shown here on YouTube:

We performed anterior posterior reconstruction for her today, which went well.  She received no blood transfusion.  Anterior L5S1 ALIF helped to jack open the base of her spine to help restore her posture and to also help stabilize that vacuum disc level.  I did laminectomy at L1 and posterior osteotomy at L1 and L5, and did some special techniques at top of the bottom with sublaminar fixation to help prevent PJK proximal junctional kyphosis and also a special truss technique at base to help prevent failure at LS junction.

Her surgery went well, with about a 1 hour anterior procedure. We finished the posterior procedure around 2:45 pm.  I met with her husband who is a physician from Wilmington, NC who was very pleased with the news and the X-Ray review.  She should be going to one of our Duke Raleigh Hospital orthopaedic beds later this afternoon and start to get her up tomorrow to check out her new posture!!

Here are her intra-op X-Rays showing the new hardware and improved posture.

Dr. Lloyd Hey

Hey Clinic for Scoliosis and Spine Surgery

http://www.heyclinic.com