Campbell Clinic Spine Center at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital

The spine surgeons at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital are some of the most well respected pediatric orthopedic and spine specialists in the country. Nationally ranked as one of the best children’s orthopedic programs by U.S. News & World Report, the spine program is dedicated to the treatment and research of pediatric spinal conditions. Each year, the team performs more than 100 spinal deformity surgeries including anterior fusion, posterior fusion, spine stapling and VEPTR procedures.

The pediatric spine center brings together specialists in orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, neurology, oncology and physical therapy. Together, these experts provide evaluation, diagnosis and treatment for infants, children and adolescents with spine injuries, scoliosis, spine tumors and spinal deformities. Your child will benefit from the most advanced pediatric spine surgery and treatments available. Highly specialized technology and state-of-the-art care is provided in a compassionate, child and family-friendly environment.

Expertise and Research

• Orthopedic Surgeon Jeffrey R. Sawyer is part of a multicenter study group aimed at studying early onset scoliosis and its treatments. In the study, leading U.S. centers submit non-identifiable patient data into a common database, allowing researchers to study large patient populations. The database includes 700 children with early onset scoliosis, including 200 who have undergone a VEPTR procedure.

• Le Bonheur and Campbell Clinic surgeons insert Vertical Expandable Prosthetic Titanium Rib (VEPTR) implants to address both chest wall and spine deformities. Surgeons also expand VEPTR implants in patients.
• Our multi-disciplinary team offers spine stapling for select pediatric patients. Depending on the severity of their curve, some children with scoliosis benefit from spine stapling, particularly if they were previously limited to bracing and spinal fusion surgery.
• For the past 20 years, our pediatric orthopedic surgeon William Warner of Campbell Clinic and pediatric neurosurgeon Michael Muhlbauer of Semmes Murphey Neurosurgery have cared for children with spinal tumors. Dr. Warner and Dr. Muhlbauer collaborate in spinal tumor and spine cancer treatment with the specialists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Quality

• In 2010, our surgeons performed more than 100 spinal deformity surgeries with zero post-surgical infections.
• Le Bonheur Children’s is designated as a Level 1 trauma center by the American College of Surgeons. This accreditation is a national designation that requires both high quality clinical care and research in the field of trauma with continued innovation. The ACS Committee on Trauma's verification program confirmed that Le Bonheur has demonstrated its commitment to providing the highest quality trauma care for all injured patients. Le Bonheur is the only accredited pediatric ACS Level 1 trauma center within a 400 mile radius and one of only 33 in the country.

Technology

• The state of the art Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital has a dedicated inpatient floor for orthopedic patients, bigger operating rooms supporting more complex procedures.
• Dedicated orthopedic operating rooms include O-arm imaging technology that provides real-time, intraoperative CT imaging. This technology gives surgeons the ability to see reconstructed images of bone anatomy during surgery. The system also integrates with Medtronic’s StealthStation to confirm the precision hardware therapy placement in advanced surgical procedures.
• In the outpatient setting, an EOS imaging system captures head-to-toe images of children in a standing, weight-bearing position. The system provides considerable reduction in radiation dosage – up to 89 percent less than CT – and captures images in less than one minute. Le Bonheur is only one of a few children’s hospitals in the country to offer the technology.