Highlighted by Becker’s Hospital Review for our excellent program, the Herbert J. Louis Center for Pediatric Orthopedics at Phoenix Children’s provides individualized pediatric orthopedic care for children with musculoskeletal injuries, diseases or conditions. Our team conducts innovative clinical and translational research studies that reflect the diversity of cases within our clinic. Our projects receive funding through multiple foundational, governmental and industry-related partners.
Growth Abnormality and Limb Deformity Research
The orthopedic team at Phoenix Children’s studies molecular signaling within certain bones to understand how they grow. The team uses this information to test noninvasive and minimally invasive strategies to modulate limb growth for treating limb deformity.
Over 40,000 children in the U.S. are hospitalized for musculoskeletal deformities each year. Current orthopedic treatments are highly invasive with significant morbidity and complication rates. This NIH-funded study, led by Division Chief Matthew Halanski, MD, seeks to identify the components of the periosteum responsible for growth restriction. The study aims to further develop a novel technology capable of disrupting these components to accelerate growth.
Dr. Halanski received the PONSA research grant for a project entitled Decreasing the Morbidity of Neuromuscular Hip Treatment. This project uses novel, minimally invasive techniques to demonstrate the feasibility of correcting the common femoral and acetabular skeletal abnormalities of neuromuscular hip dysplasia. Dr. Halanski will use the results of this research to obtain extramural funding for more comprehensive preclinical studies.
Phoenix Children’s partners with an international network of pediatric orthopedic experts to develop a questionnaire to use globally to help doctors, nurses, other clinical staff and researchers understand how having a lower limb difference impacts a child’s life overall. This information will help doctors and researchers determine which treatments are better for children with lower limb differences.
Osteogenesis Imperfecta Research
Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a rare disorder of increased bone fragility characterized by fractures with minimal or absent trauma, dentinogenesis imperfecta (DI) and, in adult years, hearing loss. The clinical features of OI vary from perinatal lethality to individuals with severe skeletal deformities, mobility impairments and very short stature to nearly asymptomatic individuals with a mild predisposition to fractures, normal stature and expected lifespan. Fractures can occur in any bone but are most common in the extremities.
Maegen Wallace, MD, is surgical director of the Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) Clinic at Phoenix Children’s. We are one of few centers in the U.S. able to offer our patients these innovative pharmaceutical clinical trials.
Phoenix Children’s participates in this clinical research study led by Baylor College of Medicine. The study seeks to answer specific questions about the natural history of brittle bone diseases as defined by molecular etiology and to develop the foundation for future prospective clinical studies.
This is an open-label, randomized, active-controlled, phase III study of setrusumab compared with bisphosphonates in pediatric subjects with osteogenesis imperfecta Types I, III or IV. This investigation seeks to evaluate the effect of setrusumab versus intravenous bisphosphonates (IV-BP) on reduction in fracture rate, including morphometric vertebral fractures, in pediatric participants.
Sports ACL Injury and Prevention Research
The Bubba Watson and PING Golf Motion Analysis Laboratory, also called the "Gait Lab," uses state-of-the-art equipment to measure real 3D motion, force and muscular activity to develop personalized care plans for musculoskeletal injuries. Our highly trained physical therapists and engineers interpret motion analysis data to help physicians customize treatment plans and qualify patient recovery. This helps ensure patients return to participating in sports and other physical activities in a safe and timely manner.
This published national survey of orthopaedic surgeons provides insight into the rehabilitative protocols and modalities utilized for ACL reconstruction. It highlights substantial variation in rehabilitative patterns and preferences to progress patients to full participation in sports.
This laboratory study compared biomechanical outcomes during a drop vertical jump (DVJ) between adolescent patients across various types of autograft at 6 months post SCL reconstruction. The results provide unique kinematic and kinetic information regarding various ACL reconstruction autograft options and highlight the biomechanical deficits to consider in rehabilitation.
Acute Care Orthopedics
Given the sheer volume of children treated urgently for fractures and musculoskeletal infections, the orthopedic specialists at Phoenix Children’s provide the most progressive care for these conditions by leading and participating in large-scale clinical trials.
This multicenter comparative study sought to identify variables associated with positive tissue cultures in pediatric patients for acute hematogenous osteomyelitis (AHO) when blood cultures were negative. The results showed patients with CRP > 4.1 mg/dL and those over 3.1 years of age benefit from obtaining a tissue specimen. However, effective empiric antibiotic coverage may limit the utility of positive tissue cultures in AHO.
This multicenter, prospective randomized superiority trial compares functional outcomes between children treated with sedated reduction and those not treated with formal reduction for distal radius fractures.
This multicenter, prospective randomized superiority trial compares functional outcomes between children treated with operative reduction and fixation or nonoperative immobilization for medial epicondyle fractures.
Find a Research Study
Patients and families can use the Find a Research Study tool or speak with their child’s doctor to learn about enrollment in current and upcoming clinical research studies at Phoenix Children’s.