Surgeons celebrate the approval of the new technology for the distortions with a government scheme

There were about five patients on the island who were able to obtain a complex instrument to correct the deformity using a technique that is part of standard medicine in the United States and the world.

This was explained to Medicine and Public Health (MSP) by Dr. Humberto Guzman Perez, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, who finally celebrated the fact that both the Puerto Rican government health plan and others Medical caps Approval of the use of “six-legged” anchors to correct complex deformities.

“We recently did a case that required Installed External special (“hexapods”) to gradually correct complex deformation. It was a deformity that caused the knees to close together with leg asymmetry. What we do in these cases is cut the bone and this Installed External to gradually correct. He explained that this correction is done through a computer program that in turn generates a recipe for his family, and this deformity is corrected day after day.

Among the complex deformities, he specifically referred to patients with curvature of the legs in any plane, or patients with discrepancies of more than 4 cm in leg length, or those deformities due to special cases, fractures, bad unions, or those Patients who have stopped growing, explain.

“This technology is not new. For years, it is the type used in the United States, but here it took some time for medical plans to adapt to the idea that this is a different technology from the usual external fixators used to manage fractures. On the other hand, these severe deformation stabilizers are among the The few alternatives that these patients have, and for this reason we have been insisting for years that medical plans must be approved, as a result of not doing anything that harms the patient. ” The specialist has been added with practice in Auxilio Mutuo Hospital and Children’s Hospital of the island

“We have a series of 5 patients who have already been approved for this technology. It has been an uphill battle, but the good news is that the government plan is approving it, and so is most of the private plans.”

Challenge with a special intramedullary nail

On the other hand, the specialist pointed out that there are still barriers on one side Medical caps To approve a special nail for patients with significant leg length differences.

“We still face difficulties in approving this special nail because medical plans consider it a nail and not an ordinary nail, it is a special nail with an external magnet, after the patient performs the operation, the individual activates this magnet .. until the goal of correcting the leg deformation is reached.” , According to him.

“I have a case pending for the month of June and we are fighting a battle over whether or not medical coverage will be approved,” he said.