Calgary boy thriving after 2004 titanium rib surgery

CALGARY – In a pickup game of ball hockey in the gymnasium of the Alberta Children’s Hospital, nine-year-old Nicky Bartsch flicks a wrist shot at the net.

His older brother, Ben, in goal, lunges to make the save, sending Nicky scrambling for the rebound.

For Nicky, the opportunity to horse around with his brother is an indication of how smoothly he’s progressed following a relatively new procedure to help straighten his spine.

The youth first showed signs of scoliosis – severe spine curvature – when he was just five months old.

In 2004, he was the first Calgarian to undergo a surgery involving a Vertical Expandable Prosthetic Titanium Rib – a device made of telescoping titanium rods that hook onto the spine and rib cage. The rods expand the chest and allow lungs the room they need to grow, and help the patient’s spine grow straighter.

Today, Nicky has no problem playing hockey and keeping up with his friends, said his mother, Cathy Bartsch.

"It’s awesome. For a while there, we weren’t sure what his future was going to be like," she said. "It’s just the fact he can do all the stuff he can do. There’s no way he could do the stuff he can do if he hadn’t had the surgery."

Pediatric surgeon Dr. David Parsons learned the procedure in the United States.

The surgery "allows lungs to grow to larger size so children don’t end up with lungs the size of a two-year-old when they’re 10," said Parsons.

Children who undergo the procedure typically receive two titanium rods during the first implant. The rods are lengthened two or three times a year during followup surgeries. Once the patient reaches "skeletal maturity," typically when they’re around 14 or 15 years old, they no longer need to continue expanding the rods, Parsons said.The Calgary hospital and Edmonton’s Stollery Children’s Hospital are among the handful of Canadian facilities that have the expertise to perform the procedure. About 22 procedures are performed annually on 11 children.

"This is still a relatively new procedure, but kids are living longer and have more active lives because of it," Parsons said.