For bone cancer, doctors typically salvage the limbs by removing the cancer and reconstructing the limbs, Templeton said. But, his bone broke just below the shoulder and the cancer cells spread. Without amputation, his survival rate would have been very poor, if not close to zero.It will be a little harder for him to begin using the arm because after almost a year of not using the muscles most people have to re-learn how since it has not been used. This was very interesting and shows just how far technology has come, and how much it has helped doctors help patients to regain their mobility after a life altering event.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
KU Doctors perform different surgery on 19yr old with bone cancer
Lawrence Journal World reported about a unique surgery that doctors at the University of Kansas completed on a 19 year old with bone cancer. The doctors had to amputate his arm, clavicle and scapula. The tricky part was removing the bone but keeping as many nerves intact as possible. The nerves that the doctors save will then become attached to the prosthetic arm he will receive. The doctors will do a scan and match the electrodes with the muscles so that everything will work together. He can not receive the arm for about 6-8 months. Most people will get theirs after 6-8 weeks, or when the swelling goes down.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
So he'll be able to use the prosthetic arm like a real arm.
ReplyDeleteya and its supposed to be able to feel things to...its pretty neat
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Emma. And on a really interesting topic. Thank you for sharing...it's exactly the sort of thing that we're looking for on this blog. 25/25
ReplyDeleteOne minor piece of "coaching": in your quote talk about some guy name Templeton. Typically, a writer will only refer to someone by their last name after they've named them previously. One way to get around this is to use brackets to indicate who the guy is. For example: "...and reconstructing the limbs, [chief surgeon Dr. Kim] Templeton said." Readers will recognize that the bracketed text isn't part of the original quote, but rather the author's attempt to provide more detail than what is in the quoted text.
Good work, Emma. Keep it up.
That is very interesting. I would have never guessed that a prosthetic arm would be able to actually feel things.
ReplyDeleteLearning how to use your muscles all over again would be very difficult, but I think it's great that medical technology has advanced so much as to be able to have a working arm again after having to lose your real one, and being able to feels things would be even better
ReplyDelete