Innovative scoliosis surgery presents a conundrum for patients
Vertebral body tethering could become the new gold standard treatment for curved spine if we figure out the right candidates
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novel surgical technique for the abnormal curvature of the spine , or idiopathic scoliosis , is offering some patients a refined treatment that spares them from the limited mobility that can result from standard surgery , but it ’ s also exposing others to multiple interventions that increase the risks of post-operative complications . And we still don ’ t know how to predict who ’ s going to benefit and who ’ s not .
A common type of spine deformity that often presents in adolescents , idiopathic ( from an unknown cause ) scoliosis can lead to uneven hips and shoulders as well as back pain . In severe cases , it could be disabling , affecting lung function and making breathing difficult .
In most instances , the condition either requires no treatment or can be managed by having children wear braces to prevent the curvature from getting worse , but a minority of patients have to undergo major surgery to correct the deformity .
In such severe cases , the standard procedure is spinal fusion , where surgeons straighten and then screw metal rods to the spine to hold it in place . The approach is often a powerful way to fix scoliosis once and for all , but it can also affect mobility , raising fears in some patients and their families .
“ If you remove the motion from a portion of the spine , you ’ ve changed what the body can do and what the body was designed to do by eliminating some of the flexibility that we were built with and designed to have ,” said Dr Peter Newton , chief of the Division of Orthopedics & Scoliosis at Rady Children ’ s Hospital in San Diego , in an interview with Global Health Asia- Pacific .
But in practical terms , this loss of mobility often has little impact on daily life , he added , with limitations ranging from the inability to fully bend into a ball or perform a somersault to difficulty extending the back
44 OCTOBER 2021 GlobalHealthAsiaPacific . com