Raffles Shield Panel Specialists

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, SINGAPORE

Dr. Dennis Hey is a Consultant Spine Surgeon at the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, National University Hospital (NUH), and an Assistant Professor at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (YLLSoM), National University of Singapore (NUS). His academic degrees and professional accreditations are as follows:
1.Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree (MBBS) (NUS)
2.Masters of Medicine in Orthopaedics (MMed Orth) (NUS)
3.Masters of Clinical Investigation (MCI) (NUS)
4.Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland (MRCSI)
5.Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in Orthopedics (FRCSEd Ortho)

Dr 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 20 renowned spine centers in China, Japan, South Korea, India, France, and Germany for extended training and exposure. It is therefore unsurprising that Dr Hey has assimilated a variety of different spine surgery techniques to deliver the best standard of care to all his patients. Today, he continues to learn fervently from both his patients and spine colleagues. Dr Hey spends at least a fortnight each year visiting reputable surgeons abroad in order to continually upgrade his surgical skills and stay abreast of the latest knowledge, as he believes this is a key to success in the rapidly changing field that is spine surgery.

Dr 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” approaches to the spine, he is is a firm proponent of these as long as they are beneficial to the patient requiring spine surgery. Today, Dr Hey routinely practices artificial disc replacements for the cervical and lumbar spine, as well as endoscopic spine surgery. Limited by current technology, decompression with or without instrumented fusion continues to be the mainstay surgical treatment for most spine conditions. Dr Hey’s novel concept of “ligamentous-muscular counterbalancing” (LMC) is slowly revolutionizing the way fusion surgery is being practiced worldwide. As a consequence of his own scientific breakthroughs, he has adopted a cutting-edge approach to spinal fusion surgery and considers the spine as a mobile structure, thus performing individualized, spinal realignment strategies. 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), which has helped him to reduce surgical complication rates. Dr Hey has received highly specialized training in adult spinal deformity, and is also an expert in treating patients with severe spinal deformity requiring long instrumented fusion with spinal realignment. He spents countless hours unraveling the mysteries of this sophisticated condition and performs numerous such surgeries.

Dr Hey is an enthusiastic scientist and teacher. He has published numerous scientific articles in high-tiered spine journals and has been invited to numerous international conferences as a key opinion leader or guest speaker. He views these efforts and opportunities as forms of learning which reinforce his clinical practice and patient care. The teaching awards he has received over the years reflect his passion in teaching the younger generation. Finally, Dr 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 and colleagues – for without whom the aforementioned would never have been possible.

MBBS (Sing), MRCS (Ire), MMED (Orth), MCI (Sing), FRCSEd (Orth)

Spine Surgery