Montreal University. Canada: The Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center (CHU Sainte-Justine)
affiliated to Université de Montréal is now the first institution in
Québec, the second in Canada and among the world's top ten to perform a
revolutionary back surgery technique in children with scoliosis. The
number of such surgeries performed worldwide so far is less than a
hundred.
Unlike any other technique, this one enables children of seven
years of age and up to 14 years old to gain a straight spine, with no
limitation of movement. The intervention is performed at CHU
Sainte-Justine by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Stefan Parent,
who also carries research with the aim of identifying those children
at-risk of major curvature progression who are likely to benefit from
the new surgical technique.
Straightening the spine by leveraging the child's growth
The technique consists in installing implants along the spine while
relying on the child's growth over years to straighten the spine. Unlike
to the conventional technique which leaves a large scar in the back in
addition to fusing the vertebrae and restraining movements, the use of
cutting-edge equipment provides children with a non-invasive surgery, as
implants are very precisely positioned along the spine through
thoracoscopy, intraoperative navigation and an O-Arm™ imaging mobile
view station. Surgery duration is four to six hours, patient's stay in
the hospital is four to five days, and return to sports is quite rapid,
normally in three to four months following the surgery. Therefore, the
technique represents a major improvement in the lives of adolescents
with scoliosis.
Identifying more children who might benefit from the surgery technique
In addition to performing surgeries, Dr. Parent conducts research
aimed at predicting, in three dimensions, how a child's idiopathic
scoliosis might progress. He recently published papers in the Journal of Pediatric Orthopedics and Spine Deformity,
which demonstrate that identifying whether a patient is at high risk of
progression is possible at his first visit. He is currently leading a
multicentre study in eight different hospitals located in Asia, Europe
and North America in order to validate his conclusions. Ultimately, his
predictive model is expected to grow the number of children with
idiopathic scoliosis likely to benefit from the new surgical technique,
which draws from the child's growth potential to straighten the spine.
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Video of the surgery (duration: 2 minutes)
The video shows images of the operating room, preoperative X-rays,
thoracoscopies, equipment set-up and postoperative X-rays:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j38shjtdnrM
Interviews
Patients who have benefited from this surgery and their parents, as
well as the surgeon and researcher, are also available to speak about
their experience.