Spine Program Research
Clinicians at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) are actively researching a range of spinal deformities, surgical techniques, and ways to make spine surgery safer.
Orthopaedic physicians regularly collaborate with The Center for Applied Genomics at CHOP, one of the world's largest genetics research programs and the only center at a pediatric hospital to have large-scale access to state-of-the-art throughput genotyping technology.
Recent research at CHOP, led by Struan Grant, PhD, associate director of the Center for Applied Genomics, identified a gene mutation as a potential cause of idiopathic scoliosis. The research won a Hibbs Award from the Scoliosis Research Society, an international organization dedicated to the education, research and treatment of spinal deformities.
Some current spine research at CHOP includes:
- Scoliosis outcomes
- Bracing for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis
- Dual rod instrumentation with limited fusion for the treatment of progressive early-onset scoliosis
- Pediatric spine and thorax geometry and pulmonary function
- Operative treatment of high-grade spondylolisthesis in children
- Do children with scoliosis and low socioeconomic status present at a later stage?
- Strategies to lower the risk of perioperative infections (e.g. safety of local application of Vancomycin powder in pediatric spine patients)
- Use of the O-arm® intraoperative computerized tomography scanner in pediatric spinal surgery
With research, orthopaedic leaders at CHOP hope to be able to better predict and treat pediatric spine conditions.
