John Vorhies, MD, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Stanford (Calif.) Children's Health, detailed how his scoliosis research will lead to improved patient care in an Oct. 22 interview with Stanford Medicine.
Three innovations in the works:
1. Dr. Vorhies is using body-heat sensors to track how long patients wear their brace, which is used to correct curvature of the spine in about 5 percent to 10 percent of scoliosis patients.
2. Carla Pugh, MD, PhD, professor of surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine, is working with Dr. Vorhies to develop sensors inside the brace to calculate the pressure it exerts on different parts of the body.
3. Stanford researchers are also designing a sensor that scans the patient's anatomy in under a minute and creates a 3D reconstruction to correlate with X-ray results. The technology will help track bracing outcomes, reduce radiation exposure and monitor patients with mild scoliosis to determine if they need treatment.