Translated by Zhang Weiwei

Guangzhou, October 20, 2009 (Guangzhou Daily): Xiao Xing is only one meter in height but he has suffered from congenital scoliosis for over ten years. When he was two months old, his parents found his thorax abnormal and spine right curve; he didn’t receive any medical care. What’s worst, he became semi-paralyzed and failed to walk after going through a series of surgeries.

Recently, the department of orthopedics of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University had administered successfully on the boy a spinal cord repair. He is now miraculously recovered that he is able to stand on his feet and even started walking again.

Professor Yang Junlin, the Director of the scoliosis center of the hospital alerted parents to pay close attention to congenital scoliosis as it is the most common, complex congenital deformity of the spine among infants. It is therefore crucial that infants with high risk congenital deformity be identified early and be given timely treatment. “A majority of patients came to us for spinal cord repair because of failures or poor results of their initial surgery, and cases like these are both risky and challenging,” he said.