11-year-old gymnast 1st to undergo vertebral body tethering in Colorado — 4 insights

Spine

Denver-based Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children performed the state's first vertebral body tethering procedure on Sophia Clem, 11, 4 CBS Denver reports.

What you should know:

1. Sophia was diagnosed with scoliosis and curvature of the spine when she was 7.

2. Sophia's condition worsened as she aged, and she wore a brace and underwent physical therapy before her family learned about VBT.

3. The surgical procedure avoids fusion by attaching screws to the vertebra on the curved side of the spine. A flexible cord is then attached to each screw and tightened to straighten the spinal cord.

"It tethers one side of the spine, [and] allows the other to keep growing until we get a straighter result," Sophia's surgeon, Jaren Riley, MD, said.

4. VBT is an experimental procedure and is not FDA-approved.

"Something told me that Dr. Riley would be able to do it successfully," Sophia said.

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