The Harrington Implant (or Harrington Ro) is a stainless steel surgical device. Historically, this rod was implanted along the spinal column to treat, among other conditions, a lateral or coronal-plane curvature of the spine, or scoliosis. Up to one million people had Harrington rods implanted for scoliosis between the early 1960s and the late 1990s. The Harrington Rod eventually became obsolete as newer, more effective types of spinal instrumentation were developed.