Story 6 – Hei Yi

Hei Yi was 7 years old when she was admitted to Accident & Emergency with a fever. The doctor noticed that she had a spine curvature of 30° on her chest x-ray despite no obvious physical indicators.   Hei Yi’s parents were not informed of the potentially rapid deterioration.  One year later, when Hei Yi was undergoing a health screening, her spine was found to have more than 40° curvature. She was later transferred to the Duchess of Kent Children’s Hospital at Sandy Bay(DKCH), where she was diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic scoliosis with a Cobb’s angle of 56° in her thoracic spine. Surgical intervention was inevitable.  As Hei Yi was young, performing the fusion surgery would prohibit her from further growth in the spine.  But having conventional surgery every 6 months would result in complications. Therefore, MAGEC rods implant was considered to be her best option.

Hei Yi was admitted for surgery in July, 2015, with the rods placed from T4 down to L3. After surgery, Hei Yi continued to grow, reaching the maximum length of 48mm rods. She had the second set of rods implanted in July 2018. She continues to thrive and is now in her early teens. She has regular follow-up checks at the DKCH clinic.