Harrington Rods??

[houstongal]

Surgery 1982 vs. 2007 style

Hello,

I had my surgery in 1982. My rod goes from between my shoulder blades down to the lumbar region, had to wear a cast for 9 months, bone fusions, the whole 9 yards. At the time the Harringtons were all the rage here in Houston with Scoliosis Associates. They must have done about 25 Million Harrington rod surgerys during that time in the early to mid 80's (okay not THAT many). Now the partners have retired, (I'm certainly not advocating it, but I believe there were a few lawsuits nationwide involving screws and rods not being FDA approved, etc.) so perhaps they got out while the getting was good! My surgery was a success, I am very active, and I had no trouble with my rods or back for 20+ years, thank God!

My little half sister, who had mainly swayback and kyphosis, just had her surgery in June done by Dr. Hanson with Baylor here in Houston, mainly on her upper and mid back. She got the screws, mini rods, (not the Harrington), and no cast or brace. She is doing well, looks and feels great, got good correction (shoulders are going back for the first time since her early teens). She is very thankful as well.

I have recently had a lot of pain in the past 3-4 years, especially in the early mornings while sleeping (trying to anyways!). This seems to be a common theme with most of the Harrington recipients. I am considering re-surgery to add more curve back into my back which has flattened out several degrees from the side view, and maybe ditch the rods. I still have great lateral correction, I run, swim, and am very active. I am toying with my options, but am leaning towards a "wait and see" what happens with a good chiropractor, masseuse, hot tub, pool, and gym. Dr. Hanson does this corrective surgery, but I'm a little worried about adding even more hardware to my spinal area and even especially about cutting out some bone. I have also been toying with having the rods removed as I suspect they are the culprit with the back flattening further. Any suggestions?

[ali8781]

houstongal,

You are discribing flatback. Sound like you are active, which is a good thing, but maybe some pt could help with the pain. You could also atleast meet with Dr. Hanson and see what he has to say. There are alot of people on this forum who have had flatback and can give you lots of feedback.
Good Luck!

[houstongal]

Thanks

Audra, thanks for the note. I did meet with Dr. Hanson last week, but he wanted to put more instrumentation below my current one, and cut a pie shaped wedge out of part of my vertebrae, not sure which one(s). Its called an ostiotomy. Guess I wanted more info on exactly what he was planning, but he did tell me it was extensive surgery, probably as extensive or moreso than the prior one in 1982. I am worried about even more pain, but undecided since am already in some right now. I guess when it gets really bad, I will have no choice. Also, there is degeneration below the rod in my lumbar region, and I'm afraid without surgery it will worsen. Is there anyone who has had re-surgery described above for flatback, who can share their outcome?

Thanks!

[cammaltby]

Houstongal,

I had a successful revision 2.5 years ago. It is big surgery. On top of this site you might find flatback information and support at a Yahoo group I moderate:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Flatback_Revised/

Take Care,
Cam

[Theresa]

Houstongal,

If you click on my name and look at my posts you will see my recovery. I had Dr. Reitman and Dr. Hansen in June 2004 for my original A/P surgery T2 to the sacrum. I went back in a year later for a revision surgery, I needed a PSO osteotomy at the L3 level. That helped some but not enough. This past May 21st I went out to Amarillo and had surgery with Dr. LaGrone. He did another PSO osteotmy at the L2 level, fused me to S2 (to incorporate a partial vetrebra into the fusion) and installed instrumentation to the pelvic area. I now stand so straight!

[ge628]

Hi All,

I am new to this site!!! Thrilled that I found it... I had scoliosis surgery in 1980 in the Bronx, Scoliosis Associates, and I also had a Harrington Rod with 2 hooks for years in my back... (At that time, I had the 25 pound plaster bodycast, 6 months bedrest, for those who have been there, you can understand what I experienced...)

For years now, I have been living with constant pain in my back due to flatback syndrome, arthritis, disc deterioration,broken rod, you name it... It was difficult sleeping, sitting, driving, bending... I finally decided and accepted that this was no way to live anymore and went to see Dr. Lonner, NYC, Scoliosis Associates...

On March 2007, I had 2 surgeries at NYU-Bone & Joint Diseases... Anterior and posterior, 1 surgery was 5 hours the 2nd was 15 hours... (I was in the hospital for 3 weeks...) Dr. Lonner removed my broken rod, replaced it with 2 new rods with screws, I also have cadaver discs/bones replacing my damaged/deteriorated discs and bones, and they are covered by 3 titanium cages that are screwed into them...

I'm 40 years old now, and I can say that I can walk, sit and sleep again... I feel like I'm finally getting my life back, and I have Dr. Baron Lonner to thank for giving it back to me... He is truly a talented and gifted person/surgeon...

It's going to be a long recovery... I'm finally fully fused, and I am so thankful!

Gina

[JulieBW]

OLD Harrington Rods

I had my Harrington Rod surgery in 1966, when I was 12 years old. I've not had any big problems, though lumbar arthritis developed at the age of 40. In the past year I have developed significant difficulty walking, which seems to be related to irritation of my femoral nerve (to the quadriceps muscles), perhaps stemming from nerve root irritation in my back. I used to walk up to 4-5 miles many days, and now it seems like that was too much for my crooked body. Now I use a cane outside of the house, and I develop buurning pain and numbness if I go more than a few yards at a time.

[diana]

Hi Everyone, I had my first Harrington Rod surgery in 1974 when I was 15 & 5 years later the Dr. discovered one of the fusions had broke. When I was 25 the Dr. did the 2nd surgery & put a compression rod to hold everything together. Unfortunately the rods have moved & my right shoulder is hurting as well as a rod is pertruding in the middle of my back. I'm in between jobs with no insurance & just turned 50 last month. I'm thankful to find this website & realizing I'm not alone in this with my back problem. I was originally 5'9 & by the time the scoliosis was discovered my height was 5'5 fortunately the dr was able to straighten my back 2" so I'm 5'7 when I'm able to stand up straight.

[Shelgrl66]

Harrington/Luque Instrumentation

Actually the reason why there are/were so many problems with the Harrington instrumentation or rather those that have had problems (and there are MANY by the way) is because most of them had *long* fusions done only posteriorly that extended into the lumbar regions. I developed flatback syndrome with severe kyphosis, spinal tilt, pseudoarthrosis at L5, broken hardware, etc. The only surgery that corrected this problem is when they finally did a total reconstruction with several osteotomies throughout entire lumbar spine with titanium cages and the surgery was done anteriorly as well as posteriorly. They wanted to pretend it was pseudoarthrosis, but I was told for years by same surgeon that my fusion was totally fused. My rods didnt break until after I had my second daughter and I placed her in the back seat one day. I believe the stress over time didn't help, and I don't believe it's good for women to go through the stress of childbirth naturally either. I was also told the hardware could never break. As for the condition of one's spine, that has nothing to do with it, as I was very active and thin. This has happened to more people than anyone realizes and because of the Harrington procedure, it lead into more surgeries, which THEN damage your entire spine (including osteoporosis at an EARLY age) and everything around it. These surgeries should NEVER be done unless ABSOLUTELY necessary, like large curves that make it a health risk for internal organs, paralysis, etc. In my case, the surgery should have never been done, but ortho spine surgeons love the kickbacks they get from the hardware/surgeries. Now I'm going to have to pay for it for the rest of my life.

1981-Harrington/Luque instrumentation T9-L5 for 30 degree thoracolumbar curve.
1990-Revision surgery-Broken hardware/flatback deformity/pseudoarthrosis-Cotrel Dubousett instrumentation with extension into sacrum.
1995-Revision surgery-Severe flatback deformity/kyphosis-Moss Miami instrumentation (T5-sacrum) with titanium cages (back/front/back procedure), thoracoplasty, total reconstruction with osteotomies.
2005-Car accident-spinal cord injury from top of rods/hooks at T5. Surgery to remove hardware, with exception of cages. Permanent damage.
2008-5th surgery pending for severe stenosis in cervical spine, as well as lumbar spine.