The first SRS research grant was awarded to Dr. Morey S. Moreland for his project on three dimensional shape and measurement in scoliosis.

Instrumentation and strategy were improved every week with new cases during the first six months on children and adolescent patients of various etiologies. Then, CDI was used and developed on adults patients thanks to Michel Guillaumat at St. Joseph Hospital in Paris. CDI was later introduced into the United States by Dr. Kenton D. Leatherman in 1984 and Dr. Harry L. Shufflebarger in 1985. This unique device, freeing patients from post-operative immobilization, along with the theory associated with its use, spread rapidly across the world.

The PWB system was developed in Minneapolis, MN by Dr. Rolando M. Puno in collaboration with Dr. Robert B. Winter and Dr. J. Abbott Byrd, III. The PWB instrumentation included the first polyaxial pedicle screw design in the world. The design was revolutionary because it allowed surgeons to position the screw head at almost any angle at the same time securing the screw to the rod.

Dr. William P. Bunnell realized early in his practice of pediatric orthopaedics that school nurses, pediatricians, and primary care physicians were all screening for scoliosis without an objective criterion for referral. The result was over-referral, excessive x-ray exposure, increased costs and possibly over-bracing. Dr. Bunnell’s first goal was to develop a small, simple, reliable, inexpensive and readily available instrument to measure the clinical deformity of scoliosis. The inspiration for this device was an inclinometer found in a small boat shop in Fayetteville, NY. The second goal was to establish its reliability in using the measurement as a guideline for screening referral and clinical follow up which was later reported in JBJS. W P Bunnell: J Bone Joint Surg Am, 1984 Dec; 66 (9): 1381 -1387.)

In the early 1980’s several studies suggested that surface electrospinal stimulation could control scoliosis and avoid conventional bracing. The Scolitron system became a popular alternative to bracing. Subsequent studies showed a high, 50-80%, rate of curve progression using the Scolitron. Nachemson et al, in an SRS randomized clinical trial, demonstrated that electrospinal stimulation treatment was no better than the natural history of untreated scoliosis. Surface spinal stimulation is no longer used in treating scoliosis.

Dr. R. Roy-Camille, Dr. G. Saillant, and Dr. C. Mazel reported on “Internal fixation of the lumbar spine with pedicle screw plating” in CORR 203: 1986 (first performed in 1963) Dr. Arthur D. Steffee, Jr. popularizes pedicle screw fixation for the lumbar spine in the United States (CORR 1986)

The first SRS Walter P. Blount Humanitarian Award is awarded to Dr. Marc A. Asher

VEPTR development began and took 18 months for Dr. Robert M. Campbell, MD from the first napkin sketch to implant completion on April 19, 1989. For years, this device was the only approved device to treat Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome (TIS also was coined by Campbell).

TSRH instrumentation was conceived in 1985 by Dr. Richard Ashman and Dr. Charles E. Johnston as a specific implant called a CROSSLINKTM, to address the vertical instability experienced with Luque – Galveston sublaminar fixation. The rods were rigidly locked together via a 3 point shear clamp mechanism produced by an “eye-bolt” which was pre-placed on the rods with the CROSSLINK plate affixed by a locking nut. By 1988 the same mechanism was used to attach hooks and screws to a rod, and by varying the eye-bolt diameter, any rod diameter could be used. Since TSRH implants could be placed anteriorly or posteriorly, and were applicable to deformity, degenerative and traumatic pathology, it became the first truly universal spinal instrumentation system available.

The Isola effort began as an attempt to develop an improved method of sacral fixation, and ultimately developed into a comprehensive system for fixation of the pelvis, lumbar and thoracic spine. The design of the first implant resembled a butterfly, hence the name Isola which is the name of a species of butterfly. That design was discarded early in the development in favor of iliac fixation, but the butterfly reference remained. The principal collaboration was between two surgeons, Dr. Marc A. Asher and Dr. Charles F. Heinig; an engineer, Dr. William Carson; and a machinist Walt Strippgen. Isola was unique in that it was designed to safely combine wire, hook and bolt fixation of the spine. Among many innovations included in the system was the use of bolt fixation of the ilium, which had not previously been described.