Dubai: Doctors at Al Zahra Hospital provided relief to an 11-year old boy whose earlier two surgeries for scoliosis had gone wrong, affecting his quality of life.
Dr Zaid Alabuaidi, consultant orthopaedic surgeon specialising in paediatric spine surgery, who explained the condition of Mohammad Hassouneh, said: “The child suffered from congenital scoliosis and at the age of 8 had undergone surgery to place a bilateral vertical expandable prosthetic titanium rib and a Magec rod, This is a kind of fixation device to help support the spine and reduce the curvature and needs to be tightened every six months until the individual experiences skeletal growth which is usually up to the age of 14.”
However, Hassouneh’s family contacted the hospital after a subsequent realignment of the rod, when surgeons shifted the device to the left side causing the child to have a tilt, worsening the curve. The shift resulted in a lot of pain and was hindering his daily activities.
3 of 100
people have scoliosis“When the patient met me, he had a tilt and was in pain. His head was at least 3cm to the side,” explained Dr Alabuaidi.
Through the surgery, Hasssouneh’s Magec rod was removed and the fixing device with top and bottom screws was used. This contraption will be tightened every six months for the next two years until the patient attains full skeletal growth.
Dr Alabuaidi has already revised the patient’s device once and intends on doing it until he attains full growth. The surgery helped the patient who was relieved of pain, his tilt corrected and he was able to resume his normal routine.
Hassouneh’s father remarked: “My son had to go through so much pain both physically and emotionally, This surgery put an end to the pain.”
What is scoliosis?
Scoliosis is condition that causes a sideways curvature of the spine in S or C shape. This normally occurs during the growth spurt just before puberty. While scoliosis can be caused by conditions such as cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy, the cause of most scoliosis is unknown. Scoliosis can idiopathic (meaning unknown cause, or congenital or neuromuscular). It does not affect the quality of life or cause any known problem said Dr Alabuaidi.
“Scoliosis when mild has a spinal curvature of up to 11 degrees. When moderate it extends from 11 to 40 degree while severe cases can go up to 100 plus degrees,” he said.
Almost three out 100 people have this condition.
Dr Alabuaidi also debunked the myth that the condition can be aggravated due to heavy school bags.
“This is not true. Scoliosis does not get worse with weight of school bags and no amount of physiotherapy or core muscle building can help the condition. Correcting the curvature with surgery is one of the most common methods while some people with mild scoliosis prefer wearing braces,” he added.
