Contact: Pam McDonnell
NYU Medical Center
212-404-3555

NYU Medical Center Surgeons Perform Their First Vertical Expandable Prosthetic Titanium Rib Surgery on 9 Year Old with Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome

New York , September 27, 2005 - NYU surgeons will perform their first VEPTR surgery this Friday, September 30th, on an 9 year old boy with Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome . Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome (TIS) is a rare diagnosis related to the inability of the thorax to support normal respiration or lung growth in skeletally immature children. It occurs in young children with severe rib and chest wall malformations often associated with scoliosis. Children with TIS can develop life-threatening breathing problems and they may have a poor prognosis for survival. The overriding clinical need of this patient population is to stabilize their pulmonary condition caused by musculoskeletal deformity and to ultimately allow the continued growth of their thoracic cavity and spine.

For children with TIS the traditional treatment options do not address the problem of restricted or compromised lung space. Vertical Expandable Prosthetic Titanium Rib is designed to stabilize the thorax while enlarging the abnormal chest wall through periodic lengthening as the child grows. The majority of VEPTR procedures are performed for the treatment of congenital scoliosis with fused ribs.

VEPTR implants are attached perpendicular to the patient’s natural ribs and lumbar vertebra or sacrum. Once VEPTR is in place, the design allows for periodic expansion of the thoracic cavity and replacement of component parts through less invasive surgery. As the patient grows, the VEPTR prosthesis is expanded every 4 to 6 months to accommodate the growth of the child. Eventually the prosthesis must be replaced with a longer device for expansion to continue.

The surgical procedure was developed in 1987 by Drs. Robert Campbell and Melvin Smith of CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital in San Antonio, Texas when they were approached by a family with a child missing ribs on one side of the thorax. Drs. Campbell and Smith implanted the first VEPTR-like device to stabilize and enlarge the thorax of this patient. Following the surgery, the patient thrived.

In addition to the United States, the VEPTR device is also being used clinically in Europe, Canada, South America, Australia and New Zealand. VEPTR, manufactured by Synthes, was approved by the FDA under a Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE) for the treatment of Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome (TIS) in August 2004. A Humanitarian Use Device is a device that is “intended to benefit patients in the treatment and diagnosis of diseases or conditions that affect fewer than 4,000 individuals per year.”

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