Timely intervention saves child's leg from amputation

Adam Vital Hospital’s Center of Excellence for limb lengthening and deformity reconstruction in Dubai has recently completed its first anniversary and has already touched the lives of multiple adults and children, including 6-week-old infants travelling from across the globe to seek world-class care for the most complex orthopaedic deformities.

One such triumphant story is of Saeed Abdulla, a 5-year-old Emirati who was born with incomplete and deformed legs due to a rare congenital disease that affects one in every million births.The child was advised to undergo amputation of lower limbs by several local and international orthopaedic specialists. Grieving parents were referred to Adam Vital Hospital, a specialised orthopaedics and sports medicine facility in Dubai with its origin in Germany, for a second medical opinion before amputation. Subsequently undergoing a series of transformative limb lengthening and deformity correction procedures for both legs and an intensive rehabilitation protocol at Adam Vital Hospital, the child was successfully able to walk and run without aids.

The professor Weber Center for limb lengthening and reformity reconstruction at Adam Vital Hospital is one of its kind centres in the MENA region subspecialised in limb lengthening and deformity correction for adults and pediatric population. The center of excellence was established to instill hope and provide opportunities for individuals who previously had no efficacious treatment alternatives. The center’s unique expertise with various bone reconstruction techniques enables them to sculpt and create bones.

Prof Dr Michael Weber has been instrumental since its launch in increasing inbound medical tourism and limiting outbound overseas medical treatment. Besides successfully performing more than 10,500 surgeries, Dr Weber has multiple applaudable inventions and internationally patented limb lengthening and deformity reconstruction techniques to his name. He said: "We used advanced techniques for limb lengthening using external fixators, tendons transplantation and cartilage reconstruction to restore the normal function of the lower limbs. It took almost three years with a series of complex reconstruction and cosmetic surgeries to gradually make the leg's size, length, shape, and strength appear and perform as a normal leg. This was followed up by long term robust rehabilitation programme to avoid amputation. We at Adam Vital are committed to offer the best musculoskeletal care to our patients and change their lives for good."

Saeed Abdulla can walk, run, and play today which was impossible prior to his successful treatment. The incredible feeling of the parents and Saeed Abdulla's happiness being able to live a normal day to day life is an apt testament to Adam Vital Hospital’s motto — 'Step Back into Life'. Local and international patients can now avail such complex orthopaedic treatments with advanced clinical facilities by world renowned orthopaedic and spine surgeons in the heart of Dubai without travelling overseas.