COVER STORY · APRIL 2017
“Medical technology is constantly
changing in pediatric orthopedic
surgery. As the technology improves
the surgeries become shorter and safer
with smaller incisions and better results.
I have worked closely with surgical
engineers over the last 20 years to help
devise ways of treating surgical spine
patients more safely and improving
scoliosis correction,” said Dr. Comstock.
musculoskeletal system from the
my responsibility to educate the families about
neck to the toes is seen by a pediatric
other options available. I have found over the years
orthopedic surgeon,” said Dr. Comstock. that families appreciate a very candid discussion
about possible treatment options and just want
“I am constantly amazed at the
to do what's the very best for their child,” said Dr.
resiliency and healing potential of
Comstock.
children even after very large complex
surgical operations,” he said. “Some
Such education is key to the patient/physician
children I never thought would be able
relationship.
to walk at their very first office visit have
progressed to independent ambulation.” “All decisions made regarding the child are made
based on thorough discussions with the family and
Dr. Wiesman agreed.
what is the best possible management for that
particular patient. The entire pediatric orthopedic
team tries to go the extra mile in helping families
Kathryn Wiesman, MD, and Christopher Comstock, MD, have all the supplies
receive the best care possible,” said Dr. Comstock.
necessary to take care of your child’s orthopedic needs.
“During our clinic visits I always try to leave the
room asking if the parents have any questions after
teaching them about the diagnosis and treatment.
In addition, we have many handouts and great
Internet resources for the parents to reference
after a clinic visit,” said Dr. Wiesman.
Sports-related injuries are a common ailment the
orthopedic surgeons deal with.
“Pediatric sport injuries have skyrocketed over
the last several years, especially with our female
athletes. The female soccer player has now
become the number one most likely person to
have an ACL tear. The presence of growth plates
around children's joints can make these injuries
very challenging to deal with,” said Dr. Comstock.
“In addition to operative sports and nonoperative
overuse injuries, one important thing to consider
in relation to sports is head injuries. I believe it is
important to continue to increase awareness on
the long-term consequences that football, boxing
and mixed martial arts may have, given their high
rates of head impact. Concussions should be
evaluated by a trained specialist. At Driscoll we
offer a sports medicine program that caters to
young athletes. In addition to common sports,
other sports such as gymnastics, cheerleading,
dance and ballet have very specialized types of
injuries that as trained sports specialists we can
recognize and treat,” said Dr. Wiesman.
All consultations, pre-operative visits and post-
operative visits are done in the Valley clinics.
While clinic appointments are held in the Rio
Grande Valley, all surgeries are performed at
Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi.
Both Dr. Comstock and Dr. Wiesman see this as
beneficial for their young patients. “Because of the remodeling capacity of children’s
growing bones, some diagnoses can be treated
with bracing, casting, physical therapy or simply
observation. We only perform surgery on children
that have a diagnosis that requires it or those
that fail exhaustive measures at nonoperative
treatment,” she explained. “Routine clinic visits can all be managed near the
patient’s home in one of the Valley clinics, while
surgeries done at Driscoll Children’s Hospital
afford patients 100 percent pediatric subspecialty
care, if needed. Many patients have multiple
subspecialists involved in their care and this all
can be taken care of under one roof,” said Dr.
Comstock. “Medical technology is constantly changing in
pediatric orthopedic surgery. As the technology
improves the surgeries become shorter and
safer with smaller incisions and better results. I
have worked closely with surgical engineers over
the last 20 years to help devise ways of treating
surgical spine patients more safely and improving
scoliosis correction,” said Dr. Comstock. “A child’s biology/physiology is very different
from an adult’s. Pediatricians often say ‘children
are not small adults’ and they are absolutely
correct. We offer our expertise in pediatric
orthopedics and the assurance that our
Anesthesiology Department is highly trained.
Many children often have multiple congenital
anomalies or other health challenges. At Driscoll
we also have a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
(PICU) that can meet all of the needs of these
patients in the post-operative time. The safest
place for a child to have surgery is a pediatric
hospital with pediatric anesthesiologists and
intensive care pediatricians,” said Dr. Wiesman. However, both physicians agreed that technology
is not the only answer. In the end, everything is about that young patient
being treated.
“No technology can replace bedside manner
and being a compassionate physician. At times
technology may give us too much information
and we have to decipher what is relevant. For
example, what we see on advanced imaging
may not be pertinent at all to a child’s primary
complaint. Technology is no replacement for
putting together a complete clinical picture. You
cannot program a machine to diagnose a patient;
the algorithm is simply too complex. In addition,
patients want someone to care about them,” said
Dr. Wiesman. “Children have the innate ability to adapt to
whatever condition they were born with or
acquired during their lifetime. For the most part
children just want to play and have fun and