FOUR Barbadians afflicted with scoliosis will undergo complex surgery at theQueen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) over the next few days.QEH officials say the four, along with a Jamaican, are expected to find significant relief in the days ahead, having just undergone posterior fusion surgery for curvature of the back.Chief of scoliosis surgery at the Hospital of Special Surgery/Cornell University Medical Centre, New York, Dr Boachie-Adjei, isi Barbados to spearhead the team of surgeons. He will be assisted by physicians Randolph Carrington and Jerome Jones of the QEH’s Orthopaedic Department.QEH chief executive officer Dexter James noted it was much cheaper to have these surgeries done here in Barbados. He said the cost of treating a patient at the QEH was $78 000 as compared with in excess of $200 000 at a hospital in a metropolitan city.To date, 65 persons (comprising mainly Barbadians) have been treated successfully for severe kyphoscoliosis deformities (commonly called “hunchback”).Team of surgeonsThe surgeries were performed during the period 2000 to 2009 under a programme spearheaded by Carrington and Jones, in collaboration with a team of surgeons from the United States.The QEH has indicated that these patients have had a 76 per cent correction rate with minimum complication; an outcome comparable to international standards and representing a great achievement for the department, which typically deals with a wide spectrum of cases.Scoliosis is defined as a medical condition in which a person’s spine is curved from side to side. Although it is a complex three-dimensional deformity when observed on an X-ray, a rear view can show the spine of an individual with a typical scoliosis to look more like an “S” or a “C”.One in 2000 Barbadians has scoliosis. Corrective surgery lasts four to six hours and “normal” day to day living can usually be resumed one year after surgery.
