Hadassah multidisciplinary team restores little girl’s hands and legs
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Six-year-old Ruthie Rosenthal, who suffered paralysis of her hands and legs after a fall, is now up and walking, thanks to innovative back surgery by the Hadassah Medical Centre’s team of multidisciplinary specialists.
Ruthie, who has Down Syndrome, had been in a wheel chair since she fell and dislocated her vertebrae about a year ago. As Senior Hadassah Orthopaedist Josh Schroeder explains: “She had undergone lumbar spinal fusion surgery at another hospital, but the screws used to connect her skull and chest created pressure on her spine that caused her to stop walking and lose the function of her hands.”
When Ruthie arrived at Hadassah, her condition was life-threatening. “It was clear that she required immediate surgery,” Dr. Schroeder relates, “so I contacted the head of the spinal surgery unit at Hadassah, Dr. Leon Kaplan, to draw up a plan for the complicated operation.”
The multidisciplinary team included Dr. Schroeder, Dr. Kaplan, Paediatric Neurosurgeon Dr. Moni Benifla, Paediatric Ear, Nose, and Throat Specialist Dr. Menahem Gross, as well as a group of senior anaesthesiologists.
Prof. Kaplan is the only person in Israel who performs this surgery, notes Dr. Schroeder. Elaborating on the complex surgical procedure, Dr. Schroeder explains: “We cut away the upper part of the spine and released the previous fusion in order to free the posterior vertebrae. We then performed a new fusion. Spinal surgery on such a narrow spine is very dangerous and sensitive and requires precise and meticulous work.”
Dr. Schroeder reports that Ruthie is now walking with greater strength and her hands function perfectly. Expressing his appreciation, Ruthie’s father, Pinny, says: “We received a new child. I want to thank first and foremost the Creator of the World who guided the doctors, headed by Josh Schroder, to find a cure for our Ruthie.” He added: “They succeeded in doing the unthinkable.”
For more than 100 years, Hadassah (www.hadassah-med.com) has been a leader in medicine and nursing in Israel, laying the foundation and setting the standards for the country’s modern health care system. The majority of medical breakthroughs in Israel have taken place there. With more than 130 departments and clinics, Hadassah-Ein Kerem provides Israel’s most advanced diagnostic and therapeutic services for the local and national population and a significant number of international patients.
iMER (www.imer.biz) is the international patients office of the Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem. iMER, with offices in Cyprus, Austria, Germany, Israel, Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Georgia, in cooperation with Hadassah, offers patients assessment services, the preparation of a medical plan and referral to the appropriate Hadassah units.
