An artificial titanium rib that offers hope to children with deformed rib cages will soon be in use at Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian.
David P. Roye Jr., M.D., a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, and a team of his colleagues hope to begin using the VEPTR or vertical expandable prosthetic titanium rib this summer, after FDA approval.
Children born with an inadequacy of the rib cage had little hope, says Dr. Roye. "There's no room for the lungs to grow." By adulthood they faced almost 10 times the normal death rate.
But by levering the ribs open with the expandable titanium rod, the lungs not only have room to grow, but scoliosis can be controlled and corrected, he says.
The rod is attached to the rib cage with specially designed connectors that are adjusted every four to six months. "It has offered a quality of care for these kids that has not been available," says Dr. Roye.
Once implanted, the rod continues to expand over several years, with the entire assembly being replaced two to three times.
"The concept is brilliant," says Dr. Roye. "Change the shape of the child and allow the kid to grow his lungs. I was taught that if you separate ribs they will just grow bactogether. But not if you put a rod in and separate them by three to four inches. Then they don't grow back together."
New Cancer Lab Will Unravel Mysteries
Cancer, the number one killer of children, has been dealt a major setback with the opening this spring of a new state-of-the-art pediatric oncology research laboratory at Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian.
The 2,000-square-foot lab, funded by a $3 million grant from the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, is headed by Mitchell Cairo, M.D., Children's director of blood and marrow transplant, and experimental therapeutics programs for children with cancer.
Lab research will focus on developmental immunology, experimental hematology, molecular oncology and stem cell biology.
The new lab provides a twofold opportunity, says Dr. Cairo. Doctors can translate basic research ideas into clinical applications. And their clinical trials now can be more thoroughly investigated in a basic research environment.
An immediate priority, says Dr. Cairo, is in the area of umbilical cord blood transplantation - the program's specialty. Doctors hope to expand cord blood immune cells that can be used long after cord blood transplantation. The aim, he says, is to eradicate persistent leukemias and lymphomas.
"We're also beginning to look at the molecular and genetic basis for why children develop certain types of lymphomas," he says. This is part of a national trial on behalf of the Children's Oncology Group and the National Cancer Institute. "We hope to unravel the mystery of why kids get these lymphomas and why they respond in standard ways to treatment."
