Spine Staple

10th August 2004

New 'spine staple' offers less invasive scoliosis correction
By Doug Payne

A physician-designed device could potentially eliminate the need for thousands of invasive spine surgeries in children who are at high risk of needing surgery in adolescence.

Scientists at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Centre said their "spine staple" to correct typical scoliosis curvatures involves making only three or four one-inch incisions on the side of the body, under the arm.

Approximately six of the special staples would be inserted through these "portals" and into the spine, across the growth plates, to slow progression of the curvature or actually decrease the curvature as the child grows. Blood loss during the insertion procedure, they said, would be minimal. Rods and spine fusion, they claim, will be unnecessary.

The hospital has signed a licence agreement with an Ohio company to develop the device.

"The spine staple redirects growth of the spine—slowing growth on the outside of the curve so the inside can catch up," said Dr. Eric Wall, an orthopedic surgeon at the hospital and co-inventor of the staple with Dr. Donita Bylski-Austrow (PhD), an orthopedic researcher.

"Surgery will be minimally invasive, safe, relatively simple and at lower cost than current procedures. It will reduce pain and length of hospital stay. And, it will help surgeons, for whom current techniques are like building a ship in a bottle," Dr. Wall added.

A study to determine the staples' safety and effectiveness in children could begin within the next year.