The Harms Study Group (HSG) is a collaborative cohort of worldwide distinguished surgeons dedicated to the advancement of treatment for children and adolescents with spine deformity. Through comprehensive, multicenter prospective research studies, questions regarding treatment approach and techniques to achieve desired outcomes are studied with a commitment to be internationally recognized for the highest quality published research on new spinal deformity surgery techniques.

The presence of this study group at national meetings and in the literature is without comparison. Through current (and past) membership, the HSG has produced hundreds of podium presentations on adolescent spinal deformity at annual meetings and peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.Current surgeon members of the HSG include several members of the board of directors as well as three past presidents of the Scoliosis Research Society.

The development and maintenance of a strong infrastructure and a robust database system has been the key to this group’s success. This infrastructure consists of personnel with expertise in multi-center research study coordination, protocol development and implementation, database design and management (data verification and quality assurance practices), statistical analysis and interpretation as well as expertise in contracting and budget management. This infrastructure supports the group’s current involvement in four prospective studies and one retrospective study:

Prospective Adolescent Scoliosis Outcomes Database Registry Prospective study of Spinal Motion Preservation Evaluation Prospective study of Scheuermann’s Kyphosis Prospective study of Scoliosis in Children with Cerebral Palsy The HSG is dedicated to advancing the techniques used to analyze treatment outcomes and has implemented radiographic digital scanning procedures and digital image acquisition in all study group sites to enable central digital radiographic measuring capabilities. The group is also looking forward to utilizing three-dimensional radiographic measures in their research. Collaborations with software and hardware companies for these goals are currently underway. All data entered in the central, web-based database undergoes central data quality assurance evaluation before it is utilized in our data queries.