Distant Harrington rod migration 35 years after implantation.
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2013-10
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Harrington rods have been successfully implanted in thousands of patients for the correction of scoliotic deformity since the 1950s. An exceedingly rare complication of Harrington rod placement is loosening with resultant migration. The authors present a 50-year-old woman who had a single Harrington rod placed when she was 15 years old. Thirty-five years later, she presented with acute sensory changes in her lower extremities. Imaging revealed rod failure and migration of the hardware distally, resulting in penetration of the wall of the rectum. Due to the unique anatomical position of the migrated hardware, sigmoidoscopy was used to directly visualize and remove the rod. The patient ultimately made a full recovery. Rod migration is an exceedingly rare complication that has been described only a few times since the introduction of Harrington rods over 60 years ago. The case herein is particularly unique given the extensive period of time that passed before migration (35 years) and the use of sigmoidoscopy for hardware removal.
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Lark, Robert K, Adam M Caputo, Christopher R Brown, Keith W Michael, Julie K Thacker and William J Richardson (2013). Distant Harrington rod migration 35 years after implantation. Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia, 20(10). pp. 1452–1453. 10.1016/j.jocn.2012.08.019 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/31390.
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Scholars@Duke
![Lark](https://scholars.duke.edu/profile-images/thumbnail200/0310320.jpg)
Robert Lark
![Brown](https://scholars.duke.edu/profile-images/thumbnail200/0235481.jpg)
Christopher Robert Brown
As an orthopaedic specialist and spine surgeon, I am committed to providing the best possible outcome for my patients with the least invasive surgery possible. I treat patients using the latest minimally invasive surgical techniques. Among the conditions I see in my patients are cervical radiculopathy and myelopathy, and traumatic spine injuries. Among the procedures I perform are complex cervical reconstruction, disc replacement surgery, minimally invasive scoliosis surgery, motion preservation spine surgery, and metastatic and tumor surgery.
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Julie K. Marosky Thacker
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