Harrington Rod

The Harrington implant (or Harrington rod) is a stainless steel surgical device. Historically, this rod was implanted along the spinal column to treat, among other conditions, a lateral or coronal-plane curvature of the spine, or scoliosis. Up to one million people had Harrington rods implanted for scoliosis between the early 1960s and the late 1990s. The Harrington rod eventually became obsolete as newer, more effective types of spinal instrumentation were developed, such as XLIF (eXtreme Lateral Interbody Fusion).

Read more about Harrington Rod:  History, Purpose, Description, Flatback Syndrome

Famous quotes containing the words harrington and/or rod:

    Chippenhook was the home of Judge Theophilus Harrington, known for his trenchant reply to an irate slave-owner in a runaway slave case. Judge Harrington declared that the owner’s claim to the slave was defective. The owner indignantly demanded to know what was lacking in his legally sound claim. The Judge exploded, ‘A bill of sale, sir, from God Almighty!’
    —For the State of Vermont, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    For the first fourteen years for a rod they do whine,
    For the next as a pearl in the world they do shine,
    For the next trim beauty beginneth to swerve,
    For the next matrons or drudges they serve,
    For the next doth crave a staff for a stay,
    For the next a bier to fetch them away.
    Thomas Tusser (c. 1520–1580)