A/Prof Dennis Hey is a Senior Consultant (Spine Surgery) at the National University Spine Institute (NUSI) and practices in National University Hospital (NUH) and Alexandra Hospital (AH). He holds concurrent positions as an Associate Professor at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (YLLSoM) and is the Chairman/ Chief Examiner for the Masters in Medicine (Orthopaedic Surgery) National Examinations Committee by the National University of Singapore (NUS). He holds many other appointments in subcommittees within National University Health System (NUHS) Group.
A/Prof Hey received comprehensive spine training from over 20 local spine surgeons in Singapore during his early career. He then set aside dedicated time to travel to more than 30 distinguished spine centers in China, Japan, South Korea, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, France, Germany, USA for extended training and exposure. It is therefore unsurprising that A/Prof Hey has assimilated a variety of different spine surgery techniques to deliver his best to all his patients. In A/Prof Hey’s opinion, “Patient-specific treatment necessitates proficiency in the full spectrum of surgical skillsets. This comes with a wide clinical exposure and continuous learning. A narrow and biased surgeon-preferred spine practice due to limited training and exposure always lead to suboptimal outcomes.” Today, A/Prof Hey continues to learn fervently from both his patients and spine colleagues. He spends at least a fortnight each year visiting reputable surgeons abroad in order to continually upgrade his surgical skills and stay abreast of new knowledge, as he believes this is a key to success in the rapidly changing field that is spine surgery. His surgical strategies are further upgraded from the current state-of-the-art surgical practices as he constantly tries to be equally proficient in, and harmonizes keyhole vs open surgeries as well as motion-preserving vs non-motion fusion surgeries.
A/Prof Hey's clinical practice has evolved over the years out of real-life lessons. Having received specialized training in motion-preserving and minimally-invasive “keyhole” (endoscopic) approaches to the spine, he is a firm proponent of these as long as they are beneficial to the patient requiring spine surgery. With the huge amount of experience over the years, A/Prof Hey routinely practices artificial disc replacements for the cervical and lumbar spine, as well as endoscopic spine surgery, benefitting patients whom previously would have been deemed unsuitable candidates for such surgeries. He has published his novel techniques and concepts in AO textbook which is a common reference material for many spine surgeons around the world. According to A/Prof Hey “Life is motion and motion is life. When surgery is required, the ability to preserve spinal motion using the most minimally-invasive approach is what would give excellent outcomes.” With this vision, in November 2022, A/Prof Hey founded the first themed spine unit in Singapore, the Motion-preserving and Minimally-invasive Spine Unit (MMSU) at Alexandra Hospital, which focuses on delivering the best surgical care using motion-preserving and keyhole surgery solutions. This center has been visited by reputable surgeons locally and around the world such as from Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, HongKong-SAR, China, Pakistan, Australia and USA.
Limited by current technology, neural decompression with or without instrumented fusion continues to be the mainstay surgical treatment for most spine conditions. A/Prof Hey's novel concept of “ligamentous-muscular counterbalancing” (LMC) challenges the way fusion surgery is being understood and practiced worldwide. In addition, his description of slump-sitting and fulcrum-extension dynamic X-ray views to obtain the best information of the lumbar spine in motion has changed our spine practice locally and has been widely adopted by numerous spine centers abroad. As a consequence of his own scientific breakthroughs, he has also upgraded his realignment fusion surgery to be highly individualized and tailored to the patient's needs. To do this, he makes reference to both the patient's standing and sitting postures, rather than just the standing posture (which is the current convention in spine surgery) through pre-operative slot scanner imaging. This has helped him to reduce surgical complication rates drastically. A/Prof Hey has received highly specialized training in adult spinal deformity and can be considered a leader in this field. He is an expert in treating patients with both simple and complex spinal deformities, some of which require long instrumented fusion with spinal realignment. He has also helped many patients with failed surgeries recover from their condition through his revision strategies. Due to his passion for adult spinal deformity, A/Prof Hey continues to spend countless hours unravelling the mysteries of this sophisticated condition until today to advance medical knowledge.
A/Prof Hey is an enthusiastic scientist and teacher. Apart from the above-mentioned breakthrough contributions to science, he has published >150 scientific articles in high-tiered spine journals and has been invited to numerous international conferences as a guest speaker including the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) Annual Scientific Meeting, which is the most prestigious international spine conference for spinal deformity. He is active in international spine societies and sits on the board committee for ASEAN MISST, membership committee for ISSLS, as well as faculty members for SMISS and ESPINEA. He is also the lead for the Singapore Spine Society (SSS) artificial disc replacement focus group. He views these efforts and opportunities as forms of learning which reinforce his clinical practice and patient care. The numerous clinical, teaching and mentoring awards he has received over the years reflect his ever-glowing passion in teaching his colleagues and the next generation. Finally, A/Prof Hey dedicates all his current and future achievements as a surgeon, scientist, and teacher to Christ, his supportive and loving wife, his 6 energetic kids, as well as his encouraging mentors, friends, colleagues and patients – for "without Him, I can do nothing".
