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Weighing the Treatment Options for Scoliosis from the Wall Street Journal

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  • Weighing the Treatment Options for Scoliosis from the Wall Street Journal

    Here's a pretty good article regarding treatment options for AIS.

    Three interesting items:

    1. "Munish Gupta, an orthopedic surgeon at Shriners who provides brace adjustments and advice on improving her balance and flexibility in sports, acknowledges that bracing's effectiveness is still being studied. But, he says, in 20 years of practice his patients have done well with it, avoiding progression in curvature and invasive spinal-fusion surgery."


    2. It's sad that only 18 states are checking for scoliosis anymore. That's a shame. That's where this anti-bracing business gets everyone. Curves discovered after it's too late for anything but fusion surgery. Tsk, tsk.


    3. Also, they discuss tethering with Dr. Newton at Rady in San Diego and apparently they remove the tether after growth. So that's definitely a bonus. There have only been twenty cases as of this article last year, so it'll be interesting when they put together some study results.

    4. Oh wait, four things, lol. A quote from JOB:

    "At this point, we still don't know who is going to get scoliosis, why they get it, whether it is going to progress, or how it will progress," says Joseph O'Brien, president of the nonprofit National Scoliosis Foundation.



    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...255480500.html
    Last edited by Ballet Mom; 05-16-2013, 09:33 PM.

  • #2
    Here's a video that was on WSJ video regarding scoliosis treatments also.

    http://live.wsj.com/video/new-treatm...7-4C496BFC87C8

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    • #3
      Great post Ballet Moon!

      Comment


      • #4
        Thanks for sharing! The article was interesting.
        71 and plugging along... but having some problems
        2007 52° w/ severe lumbar stenosis & L2L3 lateral listhesis (side shift)
        5/4/07 posterior fusion T2-L4 w/ laminectomies and osteotomies @L2L3, L3L4
        Dr. Kim Hammerberg, Rush Univ. Medical Center in Chicago

        Corrected to 15°
        CMT (type 2) DX in 2014, progressing
        10/2018 x-rays - spondylolisthesis at L4/L5 - Dr. DeWald is monitoring

        Click to view my pics: pics of scoli x-rays digital x-rays, and pics of me

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Ballet Mom View Post
          "At this point, we still don't know who is going to get scoliosis, why they get it, whether it is going to progress, or how it will progress," says Joseph O'Brien, president of the nonprofit National Scoliosis Foundation.
          That quote from Joe O'Brien is gold.

          Before Scott was diagnosed with Scoliosis Joe's statement would have surprised me. But after thousands of hours of reading I now realize that most mental/physical diseases are poorly understood.

          Scoliosis, Lupus, Schizophrenia, Autism, Cancer, etc. etc. etc. Most of the time their cause is a mystery.

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          • #6
            Hi Ballet Mom,

            interesting, thanks.

            I am in contact with several moms of children tethered by Dr Newton and they were told the tether is not removed. Perhaps it is like vertebral staples, when those first came into use over 10 years ago the early plan was to remove them at the end of growth, but that is now not recommended. I don't think anyone would look forward to a second surgery to remove the fusionless hardware if it was not necessary.
            Gayle, age 50
            Oct 2010 fusion T8-sacrum w/ pelvic fixation
            Feb 2012 lumbar revision for broken rods @ L2-3-4
            Sept 2015 major lumbar A/P revision for broken rods @ L5-S1


            mom of Leah, 15 y/o, Diagnosed '08 with 26* T JIS (age 6)
            2010 VBS Dr Luhmann Shriners St Louis
            2017 curves stable/skeletely mature

            also mom of Torrey, 12 y/o son, 16* T, stable

            Comment


            • #7
              That is my understanding as well - that barring any unexpected problems, the tethers would remain in place.
              mariaf305@yahoo.com
              Mom to David, age 17, braced June 2000 to March 2004
              Vertebral Body Stapling 3/10/04 for 40 degree curve (currently mid 20's)

              https://www.facebook.com/groups/ScoliosisTethering/

              http://pediatricspinefoundation.org/

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