Laurel C. Blakemore
Dr. Laurel C. Blakemore, MD is a board-certified pediatric orthopedic surgeon and CEO of Pediatric Specialists of Virginia, specializing in scoliosis and complex spinal deformity; she is a past President of the Scoliosis Research Society (only the second woman to hold the role).
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APPEARANCES
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PODCASTS
Aug 19, 2026
Laurel C. BlakemoreGUEST
Yeah, I was a pretty early adopter also of tethering, but I feel that from many thoracic curves, it's just proved that with the good, you know, motion analysis data that we have now from Shriners Philadelphia and other places that it's, the juice is probably not worth the squeeze because of the continued higher rate of uncomplication.
Laurel C. BlakemoreGUEST
So I'm with Suk and I've been moved more towards hybrid selective thoracic fusion and then a tether.
Laurel C. BlakemoreGUEST
My biggest concern, and I really have to make the family listen to this conversation, is that there's also some concern that if you could have fused at L3, But then you tether them and you tether them to L4 to try to get that extra control.
Laurel C. BlakemoreGUEST
They end up, if they fail, which they may not, but if they do, they'll end up fused to L4.
Laurel C. BlakemoreGUEST
And that L3-4 is so important, you know, I think for the kids' long-term health of their spine that that really concerns me.
