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  • Shilla surgery

    Has anyone heard of this new procedure that attaches dual rods to the spine and the rods seem to extend as the child grows so that no expansions are needed like the veptr or growing rods??? It is fairly new. I am researching for another mom whose son may have this done by Dr Skaggs at CHLA and there isnt much info online about it.
    Thanks for any help you can be.
    Stacey

  • #2
    I remember reading about a physician mother of a kid with congenital scoliosis on this forum. She was taking her daughter to France (I think) to get a surgery with rods that didn't need to be lengthened but that grew with the child. I think magnets were involved with the self-lengthening rods.
    Laurie

    Mother of Alexander & Zachary:
    Alex is 16 years old and in the 11th grade. He has congenital scoliosis due to a hemivertebrae at T10. Wore a TLSO brace for 3 1/2 years. Pre-op curves were T45 & L65; curves post-op are approx. T31 & L34. Had a posterior spinal fusion from T8 to L3 on 7/12/07 at age 12. Doing great now in so many ways, but still working on improving posture.
    Zach is 13 years old and very energetic.

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    • #3
      Hello Stacey,
      Thanks for posting for me! (I'm the mom she's talking about) I wrote up a little snipit I'll add here about us.

      Hello Everyone,
      My 3 year old son has progressive congenital scoliosis. Recently his orthopedist has said its time for surgery and has recommended growth rods. We had been waiting as long as possible to give keegan time to grow. We recently went to LA children’s hospital to get a second opinion on the kind of surgery best for keegan. We saw Dr. Skaggs, who spoke to me about veptr (not right for keegan) a hemi excision, and growth rods. In the end he is actually recommending a new kind of experimental self extending growth rods called Shilla that don’t need expansion surgeries. Skaggs may or may not do the hemi extraction at the same time depending on how things look during the surgery.

      Of all the things we have heard about Shilla it actually sounds the best for us by far, except for the experimental aspect, and the doctor being an 8-9hour drive from our home. There have only been a handful of kids that have had Shilla so far, and none have had it long enough to know what the final out come will be for them. I don’t have any numbers yet, it’s so hard to know what to do! There is almost no information available on line, I did find a couple of articles in medical journals that I’m in the process of getting copies of, and one mention of Shilla in a short article…here’s the link if your interested.
      http://www2.aaos.org/aaos/archives/a...7/A11_2-17.asp

      Dr Skaggs has used Shilla on one other patient so far; they will be getting my phone number and hopefully calling me soon. In the mean time I’m wondering if any of you have heard anything about Shilla?
      Thank you,
      Tiffany
      Mama to 5 beautiful redheaded boys
      http://babyhomepages.net/5smurfyboys/index.php
      Rory age 14, Evin age 10, Brandel age 6, identical twins Keegan and Conley are age 3. J
      Keegan has progressive congenital scoliosis at 63° - 83° depending on who messures, a hemi vert at T-5, two fused ribs, several vertebrae fusions, a rib hump measuring at 14+, a solatary left kidney, scatterd areas of abnormal signal within the brains white matter, sacral hypogenesis, L2 conus with a filar lipoma. He also has a syrinx causing lower limb nerve damage, that we hope will clear up on its own after his tethered cord release surgery on Oct. 18, 2006
      Last edited by Tiffany S.; 09-18-2007, 12:58 PM.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by laurieg6
        I remember reading about a physician mother of a kid with congenital scoliosis on this forum. She was taking her daughter to France (I think) to get a surgery with rods that didn't need to be lengthened but that grew with the child. I think magnets were involved with the self-lengthening rods.
        Hi,
        I know what your talking about, there is a kind of rod in Paris that uses magnets to adjust it from the out side of the child's body. Shilla is different, it screws in the middle (I think) and the ends are somehow lose to stretch longer as the child grows. I'm not really to clear on it, that's why I'm looking for all the info I can find. LOL
        Thank you so much for your answer,
        Tiffany

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        • #5
          Tiffany,

          Did you see my post to you on the VEPTR board? I gave you a link to a presentation by Dr. Richard McCarthy (inventor of the Shilla?) at the last IMAST conference. Hopefully that helps explain the technique and the procedure. Very interesting.
          Carmell
          mom to Kara, idiopathic scoliosis, Blake 19, GERD and Braydon 14, VACTERL, GERD, DGE, VEPTR #137, thoracic insufficiency, rib anomalies, congenital scoliosis, missing coccyx, fatty filum/TC, anal stenosis, horseshoe kidney, dbl ureter in left kidney, ureterocele, kidney reflux, neurogenic bladder, bilateral hip dysplasia, right leg/foot dyplasia, tibial torsion, clubfoot with 8 toes, pes cavus, single umblilical artery, etc. http://carmellb-ivil.tripod.com/myfamily/

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          • #6
            Hi Carmell,
            Thank, thank you, thank you! I just saw the amazing video, it helps me quite a bit!
            If anyone here is interested in watching it you should be able to follow this link and then type Shilla in the search engine at the bottom of the page.
            http://www.istreamplanet.com/srs/default.asp?np=media

            Thanks again,
            Tiffany

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