Injured Teen Walks for First Time Since Car Accident Thanks to New Orthopedic Technique
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Sunday, August 09, 2009 12:12:55 PM
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Orthopedic Surgeon Combines Computer Software with Hi-Tech External Device to Correct Serious Leg Deformities
It was a warm summer afternoon in August 2008 when 16 year-old Meghan Bryant of St. Mary’s County was driving home from work along route 5. Suddenly, the car in front of her stopped abruptly. Meghan reacted by swerving onto the shoulder to avoid hitting the car. But her tire hit gravel and her SUV flipped twice, end over end. About to start her senior year at Chopticon High School, this was the last day Meghan would walk on her own for nine long months.
Meghan Bryant, 17, walks for the first time in nine months as Dr. McGuigan looks on.
“The paramedic who pulled Meghan from the car that day said she was incredibly lucky to be alive, “said Meghan’s mom Julie Bryant.
“I don’t remember anything from the accident, but as I recovered I was constantly worried I’d never walk again,” said Meghan.
Meghan suffered neurological damage that left her with little control over the left side of her body. As she recovered and the feeling in her arm eventually came back, she noticed her leg was not improving. Meghan came to Georgetown months later in January 2009.
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Injured Teen Walks for First Time Since Car Accident Thanks to New Orthopedic Technique |
“Being forced off her feet for two to three months caused her leg muscle to shrink and her foot to drop. It was stuck in a downward position,” said Georgetown Orthopedic Surgeon Francis McGuigan, MD. It was like her foot was stuck in the pointing position. She would not be able to walk this way. She needed precise corrective action, but she needed it to happen slowly.”
To achieve that Dr. McGuigan used a new combination of an advanced external fixator device called the Taylor Spatial Frame along with computer-assisted surgery (Spatial CAD). Dr. McGuigan used the technique to help hundreds of US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan who suffered severe blast trauma injuries, broken bones and bone infections caused from blast injuries. GUH is the only center in the DC area and one of only a few in the nation to offer this unique treatment combination of the frame and computer assisted corrections.
“We take the patient to the operating room to repair the damage, then place the frame on the leg. After we leave the OR, I use computer software to analyze her CT scans and X-rays. I load the data onto a website, along with the parameters of the frame. The program takes all that information, does the math, and spits out a prescription for the adjustments we need to make the repair perfect. “
“In Meghan’s case, we helped her and her parents learn how to tighten the struts in the frame in order to correct the deformity. As time goes on, we enter new images and new data to the program and make additional changes if we need to. Before this new technique of treatment, once we left the OR after treating a broken bone or joint deformity, there were no further changes we could make unless we went back to the operating room. In Meghan’s case I would have probably cut her Achilles tendon and the ligaments around her ankle to release her foot; not a favorable option,” said Dr. McGuigan.
Almost nine months after the accident, on a sunny day in mid-May, Meghan’s family wheeled her into Dr. McGuigan’s clinic where the cast from her March surgery was removed. For the first time since her accident she could walk...on crutches for now...but what a step forward.
“I feel like a real girl. I haven’t been able to walk for so long and after so many surgeries, I’m just so excited,” said Meghan. “I’m moving on with graduation and moving on with my life. I’m moving on with this too.”
“In a case like Meghan’s we’d usually have to use plates, screws and surgery to make her whole again. I really like this treatment combination because I can correct nearly any deformity you give me, and can get a correction within a millimeter. And there is no hardware left in her leg to cause future infections.”
In addition to cases like Meghan’s and the severe open trauma cases Dr. McGuigan treated from Iraq and Afghanistan, the Taylor Spatial Frame, surgery and computer software combination can be used to correct other foot, ankle and leg conditions, including new fractures, non-healing bones, infected bones due to diabetes, joint contractures (when the joint is in the wrong position), as well as congenital deformities. Unlike traditional orthopedic surgery the correction can often be achieved with minimally invasive techniques.
“Now my daughter has a real chance to walk across the stage on her own two feet to get her diploma, “said Julie Bryant. Last August, I didn’t think it would be possible.”
Source: Georgetown University Hospital
