How old were your children at the time of surgery?

[MJB]

I'm just curious to know how old everyone's children were.

Halle is 11... part of me worries that she is so young to be having this surgery, it will probably effect her growth. I guess only the fuse portion will no longer grow, the rest of her will.

[Pooka1]

I'm just curious to know how old everyone's children were.

Halle is 11... part of me worries that she is so young to be having this surgery, it will probably effect her growth. I guess only the fuse portion will no longer grow, the rest of her will.

You might want to ask the surgeon the following:

1. What is her skeletal maturity (bone age)? This is most accurately determined with a hand/wrist radiograph as I understand this.

2. Depending on the answer to #1, what is the chance of crankshafting if doing a posterior fusion?

3. What is the plan to avoid crankshafting if significant growth remains?

It is my understanding that the lack of growth in the fused area of an 11 year old girl is going to be on the order of 1 centimeter or so. The surgeon will know. I doubt it will be noticeable at all.

It is my further understanding that if they are able to use mostly screws, crankshafting won't be an issue. My one kid was fused at 13.3 yo and was at a low Risser. I asked the surgeon about crankshafting and he said it would not happen in her case even though she had much growth remaining. I think the reason was he was he knew he could use mostly screws. The only hooks she has are on the top left and they are there not because he couldn't use screws but to avoid screw pullout.

The other kid had her fusion at almost 15 yo. She was mostly grown and has mostly screws but with hooks at the top left also as I recall.

Good luck.

(edited to correct the age of the first kid at surgery)

[Snoopy]

Jamie was 13 y.o. and skeletally mature when she had her surgery.

Mary Lou

[ddb]

Katlin was 16 at time of surgery.

Jes was schduled at 20.

Dee

[Elisa]

My son will be having his first surgery in 5 days and his second surgery on April 19th. with halo traction in between and he is 14. We didn't even discuss his skeletal maturity b/c his case is so urgent. He is 5'8" and weighs 118-120lbs so is a pretty decent size and I'm betting he will gain about 3" in height when straightened. His older brother is 6'3" so it's possible Elias will eventually hit the 6' mark but I doubt he'll be as tall as his older brother but you never know. Boys take so much longer to reach skeletal maturity than girls.