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Marc A. Asher. Dogged Persistence: Harrington, Post-polio Scoliosis, and the Origin of Spine Instrumentation. Traverse City, Mich.: Chandler Lake Books, 2015. xx + 395 pp. Ill. $30.00 (978-1-943338-01-6).
Marc Asher's Dogged Persistence is both a biography of Dr. Paul Harrington and a history of the development of his system of spine instrumentation designed to correct scoliosis. Harrington was one of the first surgeons in the post-World War II era to invent, manufacture, and use a system of metal rods to correct moderate to severe spinal curvatures. The existing system of using body casting to straighten the spine and maintain stability following a fusion of the vertebrae involved long periods of immobility and had a high failure rate. Harrington was convinced that he could design metal rods and connectors that could straighten and hold the spine in place with or without an accompanying fusion and without lengthy immobilization. Developing this procedure and instrumentation involved many years of trial and error and overcoming the resistance of his fellow orthopedic surgeons before spine correction using implanted instrumentation became...