Dr Kanellopoulos is Fellowship trained in Pediatric Orthopedics and is an active member of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America.
His main clinical interests include modern management of pediatric orthopedic trauma, limb lengthening and deformity correction, complex foot deformity correction, and management of patients with neuromuscular conditions, including cerebral palsy (SPML).
Over the last decade, Dr Kanellopoulos introduced a number of novel treatments for his patients for the Greek standard of care at that time, like closed reduction and percutaneous fixation of supracondylar humeral fractures, he was the first to introduce the Ponseti method for the treatment of clubfoot, he also was the pioneer for closed, both flexible and rigid, nailing for forearm and femur fractures respectively. The list continues with the first application of a fully implantable lengthening device in 2005, the first application of the Taylor Spatial Frame, the state of the art external fixator with three dimensional correction capabilities for fracture treatment and for correction of long bone deformities. He also introduced the selective percutaneous myofascial lengthenings for cerebral palsy patients (SPML), a revolutionary minimally invasive surgical intervention, that enables immediate rehabilitation without hospital stay. He performed the first implantation of the “growing rod”, the Fassier – Duval nail and has been since a center for its application for patients with osteogenesis imperfecta.
As of August 2016 he performed the first in Greece implantation of a Precise nail for lengthening and deformity correction. This device is fully implantable and can be controlled externally.This device obviates the need for bulky external fixators, requires less hospital stay and carry less risk of complications as infection or poor bone formation.
He also taught in both undergraduate and postgraduate level, Pediatric Orthopedics, at the Medical School of the University of Athens as well as in a large number of young Orthopaedic residents during their training.
He has contributed to the orthopaedic literature a number of scientific papers.
Currently, he is the Head of the department of Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery at Iaso Children’s Hospital in Athens, Greece.
Back in 2002, we had the opportunity to visit Dr Roy Nuzzo in his institution in Summit , NJ, where he kindly introduced us into his approach on treating patients with Cerebral Palsy. We had the chance to extensively discuss about patients but also to participate in SPML surgeries with him.
That was the beginning of a continuous scientific collaboration over the years that was enhanced by Dr David Yngve who also was following the same SPML approach in Galveston, TX ,USA
Up to nowadays more than 1000 children from Greece, Cyprus and other countries, with various forms of cerebral palsy, were operated in Greece utilizing the SPML surgical principles. Initial surgical results were studied clinically with video analysis and PT evaluations. All patients were found at follow up with improvement in their function.No complications were noted.
Later on, pre and post operative gait analysis was utilized to collect measurable data. That enable our group to contribute to the medical literature.The effort is still ongoing to Drs Nuzzo’s and Yngve’s applauses.
Although all cerebral palsy children can benefit from SPML and alcohol blocks, there is a small group of children using walking aids that this procedure can transform to walkers.
