Feasibility of Non-surgical Implant Adjustment

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): While minimally invasive surgery has transformed the practice of surgery, access to implants for removal or alteration still requires surgery which generates risk and high cost. A next-generation approach is non-invasive, where implants are adjusted without an incision. There are clear applications in all fields of surgery, but particulary in orthopaedics where implants require frequent adjustment. One condition, early onset scoliosis, is disproportionally responsible for high cost and poor patient outcomes. Scoliosis, a pathological lateral curvature of the spine greater than 10, affects 2-4% of the population, or an estimated 6 million people in the United States. If left untreated, early onset scoliosis can cause damaging spinal deformity early in life; thus affecting other aspects of the child's health. There s no known cure for early onset idiopathic scoliosis. The most common surgical treatment of early onset scoliosis utilizes growing rods. In this procedure,