Newswise — New York City, NY (August 27, 2012) – Vishal Sarwahi, MD, Chief, Scoliosis Surgery, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Montefiore Medical Center, will be presenting on the topic of minimally invasive scoliosis surgery at the 47th Annual Scoliosis Research Society Meeting in Chicago, September 6, 2012. Dr. Sarwahi is one of only five surgeons in the nation, and the only one in the New York area, performing this technique. Minimally invasive surgery to treat scoliosis, an abnormal curvature of the spine, in teenagers is a procedure that Dr. Sarwahi pioneered and has been performing at Montefiore for the past four years. The procedure to correct curvature of the spine involves three small incisions in the back, as opposed to standard open surgery, which requires over a foot long incision. Combining advanced intraoperative imaging technology to guide the surgery and a minimally invasive technique, Dr. Sarwahi, Associate Professor of Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, believes it is less disruptive to the patient’s natural anatomy, with less trauma to the muscle, tissue, nerves and blood vessels, resulting in shorter hospital stays, relatively less pain and pain medication and a return to mobility much quicker than the standard procedure. “Montefiore is one of only a handful of institutions in the nation offering this advanced technique,” said Dr. Sarwahi. “We combine our expertise with multi-million dollar machinery to ensure the surgery is as safe and effective as possible. This option allows adolescents to undergo less trauma and have less visible scarring, while correcting the deformity as accurately as the traditional option.”
Dr. Sarwahi, who published the first professional journal article in the world on this technique in Scoliosis in August, 2011, has performed 12 of the innovative procedures. Most recently, Dr. Sarwahi treated Miriam Palmer, a 14 year old girl who attends dance class three times per week at her local Boys and Girls Club and has ambitions to be a model. Miriam had previously worn a brace in an effort to straighten the curve in her back but found it heavy and uncomfortable. The curve worsened despite using the brace. Dr. Sarwahi performed the minimally invasive surgery on Miriam on July 16. Having spent only three days in the hospital, she is recovering well, is practicing dancing already and believes the surgery will allow her to pursue a modeling career because the scarring is almost non-existent. Miriam also believes she will be able to dance for longer periods of time without losing breath or being in pain.
The traditional procedure involves a surgeon opening a large section of the back, separating muscles and then placing rods, screws and bone grafts along the spine to straighten the curvature. Dr. Sarwahi, whose team treats over 1,000 scoliosis patients from around the country and the world annually, believes that young patients who opt to have the minimally invasive surgery are more satisfied with the aesthetic afterwards and have shown similar outcomes to the patients who received the traditional procedure. The most suitable candidates for the minimally invasive procedure are adolescents with a routine spinal curvature of 40-70 degrees.
Dr. Sarwahi will be presenting as part of the educational program to hundreds of medical professionals at the Scoliosis Research Society, one of the world's premier spine societies, sharing his expertise as a leader in this field, about the minimally invasive technique. He regularly serves as a guest speaker at national and international conferences.
Dr. Sarwahi is fellowship-trained in pediatric orthopaedics and also in spine surgery. He was the Edwin Warner Ryerson Fellow in Pediatric Orthopaedics at the McGaw Medical Center of the Northwestern Memorial University in Chicago. He completed another fellowship in spine deformity at the Hospital for Special Surgery of Cornell University, New York. This extensive training uniquely qualifies him to treat children and adolescents with the expertise of a spine surgeon and the approach of a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon. He is actively involved in the training of fellows, residents and medical students and annually donates his time to the education of spine surgeons in India. About Montefiore Medical Center As the University Hospital for Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore is a premier academic medical center nationally renowned for its clinical excellence, scientific discovery and commitment to its community. Recognized among the top hospitals nationally and regionally by U.S. News & World Report, Montefiore provides compassionate, patient- and family-centered care and educates the healthcare professionals of tomorrow. The Children's Hospital at Montefiore is consistently named in U.S. News' "America's Best Children's Hospitals," and is second among those in the New York metro area. With four hospitals, 1,491 beds and 90,000 annual admissions, Montefiore is an integrated health system seamlessly linked by advanced technology. State-of-the-art primary and specialty care is provided through a network of more than 130 locations across the region, including the largest school health program in the nation and a home health program. Montefiore's partnership with Einstein advances clinical and translational research to accelerate the pace at which new discoveries become the treatments and therapies that benefit patients. The medical center derives its inspiration for excellence from its patients and community, and continues to be on the frontlines of developing innovative approaches to care. For more information please visit www.montefiore.org and www.montekids.org. Follow us on Twitter; like us on Facebook; view us on YouTube
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