1. Presented by: Kelsey Foster

2. The History The Harrington Rod was developed in the 1950’s by Dr. Paul Harrington. The Harrington Rod was the first spinal instrumentation to be developed Modern examples of Harrington Rods

3. What is it exactly? The Harrington Rod is a stainless steel distraction rod fitted with hooks at both ends and a ratchet. They are implanted through an extensive posterior spinal approach.

4. How are they used? The Harrington Rod is used to correct deformities of the spine. They were created to be used instead of rigid external bracing. The hardware itself functions as an internal brace. Most instrumentation is so stable that it completely eliminates the need for bracing for anything other than comfort.

5. During the 1960’s instrumentation became more mainstream as doctors who saw its benefits, began experimenting with modifications of Harrington’s original system. Bone screws and cabling were developed in the 1970’s, to further stabilize the fusion.

6. It was used in the early stages without performing a spinal fusion, however, this changed due to the amount of hardware failures that occurred using this method.

7. Looking at the future In the United States alone there is a large industry of improving the way spinal fusions affect patients. New techniques to be minimally invasive and new technologies to lessen the hindrance of motion are allowing patients with problems to be secure in knowing that these things won’t disrupt their whole life.

8. New ways to solve the same old problems NuVasive is a public company based out of San Diego, California that is working towards a new way of fusion. They work in MAS which stands for maximum access surgery. Their goal as a company is to fix the problem with as little damage to the patients life and body as possible. This new technology has surgeons going in from a patients side and implanting less rigid but still stable material to correct the deformity. With technology continuing to advance the Harrington Rod is becoming less and less effective and necessary.

9. Bibliography Dryer, Joseph W., MD. "Harrington Rod." Harrington Rod. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2013 Spinesanta, Susan. "What Is Spinal Instrumentation and Spinal Fusion?" SpineUniverse. Spine Universe, 12 Sept. 2012. Web. 19 Feb. 2013. Gentile, Julie M. "Stabilization in Spine Surgery." SpineUniverse. Spine Universe, 20 Dec. 2010. Web. 20 Feb. 2013 "Speed of Innovation, Advanced Spine Technology | NuVasive®, Inc." Speed of Innovation, Advanced Spine Technology. NuVasive, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2013