9-Year-old's Leg Magnetically Lengthened As She Grows

An innovative way to perform treatment on patients with osteosarcoma (cancer of the bone) that can reduce the need for future operations. In the case of 9 year old Morgan LaRue of Houston, TX she lost an upper portion of her leg bone to the debilitating osteosarcoma. If previous procedures were used she would have to undergo up to 10 followup surgeries to keep her legs even with each other. Another reason that this surgery is good is that it replaces the bad bone with metal so the chances of rejection are little to none. When a visit is required to extend her leg she is simply placed in a donut shaped magnetic machine and the leg can be either extended or shortened. While this procedure is approved in Europe and regularly used is not yet FDA approved in the US; however, there are lobby groups working on this.


I chose this article simply because it greatly relates to our device design project, it deals with adolescents, it is used to prevent future operations and it's pretty cool.





http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/185822.php