{"id":4440,"date":"2014-12-01T15:05:52","date_gmt":"2014-12-01T20:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/?p=4440"},"modified":"2015-01-12T16:45:13","modified_gmt":"2015-01-12T21:45:13","slug":"intersection-csi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/2014\/intersection-csi\/","title":{"rendered":"At the Intersection of Science, Health Care, and Technology: The Center for Surgical Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"

In many ways, Amanda Shadowens is a typical teenager: hanging out with friends, attending school dances, playing her trumpet. But Amanda also suffers from chondrodysplasia punctata: a rare form of dwarfism that impacts the curvature of Amanda\u2019s spine and can cause a dangerous compression of her spinal cord. Amanda was forced to wear a collar to keep her neck straight, to prevent that compression. But a revolutionary surgery at Dartmouth-Hitchcock<\/a> promises to change Amanda\u2019s life, allowing her to be an even more normal teenager.<\/p>\n

On August 7, Amanda underwent a complex fusion of the upper cervical spine through the mid-thoracic spine. The surgery took place in the Center for Surgical Innovation<\/a> (CSI) at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, a new, state-of-the-art facility at the intersection of science, health care and technology\u00a0that was created in partnership with Dartmouth\u2019s Geisel School of Medicine and Thayer School of Engineering.<\/p>\n

Pediatric Neurosurgeon Dr. David F. Bauer<\/a> of the Children\u2019s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock<\/a> performed Amanda\u2019s 20-hour surgery, assisted by a team of more than a dozen doctors, nurses, aids and engineers in a procedure involving a variety of fixation devices, screws, and rods to hold Amanda\u2019s spine together in the most-secure, safest manner. As Amanda recovers, four months after the surgery, the results are promising.<\/p>\n

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VIDEO \u2013 Amanda\u2019s story:<\/h4>\n