New at Hillel Yaffe's Division of Orthopedics: Pediatric Back Orthopedics

The Spinal Unit, part of Hillel Yaffe Medical Center's Division of Orthopedics, has recently launched a new service for pediatric back orthopedics. It is a comprehensive service, offered through a dedicated clinic. It performs diagnoses, treatments and, if necessary, surgery for children with back problems.

At the head of the service is Dr. Gabriel Gutman, a spinal surgeon and senior orthopedist, who recently completed one year for an additional subspecialty in minimally invasive complex spinal surgeries at the McGill University Medical Center in Montreal, Canada. Prior to that, Dr. Gutman acquired a subspecialty in complex spinal surgery at the medical center of Université de Montréal and a subspeciality in spinal surgery, with a focus on complex scoliosis corrections in adults and adolescents in Lyon, France. Dr. Gutman completed his medical studies with honors from the Faculty of Medicine of University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and specialized in orthopedic surgery at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Ramat Gan.

“When a child suffers from prolonged back pain, we need to investigate.” Dr. Gabi Gutman

Scoliosis in children - diagnosis and treatment

“Children do not generally suffer from back problems,” said Dr. Gutman, “That is why we have to investigate when a child suffers from prolonged back pain.”

There are several possible sources of back pain in children: infectious disease, spinal tumors, trauma (car accidents or injuries), congenital deformities or developmental deformities from a disease of the connective tissue, and idiopathic issues.

The most common problem is clearly scoliosis, a spinal deformity. Two to three percent of all children between the ages of 0-17 will have scoliosis of up to 10 degrees, and approximately 0.5% of the entire population of the same age will suffer from scoliosis of 20 degrees if not more. The “risky” age is above 10, particularly in girls (about 80% of developmental scoliosis cases are in girls), due to accelerated growth in adolescence.

“You don’t always feel scoliosis, especially because it does not necessary cause pain, but causes a deformity of the back that you may not feel,” said Dr. Gutman. He further added that most cases of scoliosis are discovered when it is already quite severe, or when the parents or child notice that the shoulders are not level or the chest is twisted.

There are many solutions for scoliosis and include diagnosis, observation and follow up, use of a brace, if necessary, and/or surgical solutions - all, as previously mentioned, are offered through the new service, with the use of the world's most advanced technology and minimally invasive approaches.

For further information and to schedule an appointment, call: 04-6304225. Come to the initial appointment with a referral from the community physician (family physician / pediatrician / orthopedist) as well as a referral from the medical insurer (HMO).