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Thousands of Americans are currently living with scoliosis, a curvature of the spine. And although mild scoliosis is very treatable, few surgical options are available for youngsters born with more severe forms. Now new technology could change that.
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In late September 2006, a four-year-old Ocala, Florida boy became one of the first children in the Southeast to receive a prosthetic rib device that will allow his rib cage to expand as he grows. University of Florida orthopaedic surgeons successfully implanted the titanium rib during a two-and-a-half hour operation at Shands at UF medical center. Children with severe scoliosis are born with several ribs fused together, preventing their chest cavities from growing larger as the spine lengthens, causing a host of problems… and sometimes even death. The Ocala boy is one of only a handful of patients nationwide to get the adjustable device, which the food and drug administration has cleared only for humanitarian use. But experts think this device, or other versions in development, will soon be more widely available.
Dr. Raymund Woo / UF orthopaedic surgeon
"The quickest-growing field in surgery is really in spinal surgery, in terms of development, and new technologies are coming about almost every day. New things are coming about which will totally rethink how we used to treat some of these diseases, which historically have been almost universally fatal."
The most common surgery to correct less severe forms of scoliosis in youngsters and teens uses rods to fuse and straighten the spine, but robs them of any spinal flexibility. Experts hope that a variant of the expandable rib method could eventually be used in these patients, too, at the same time giving them much greater flexibility.
Dr. Raymund Woo / UF orthopaedic surgeon
"I'm sure that as this technology that we're using right now gets redefined, it'll probably be able to be expanded even to use for treating teenagers or adolescents who have scoliosis."
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At the University of Florida Health Science Center, I'm Mike Garrison
