NUH News SPRING 2016 Online
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5<br />
FeatureStory<br />
I just felt this pain<br />
like I’d never felt<br />
before. I couldn’t<br />
move my arm at all.<br />
Spare rib<br />
surgery is<br />
<strong>NUH</strong> first<br />
A teenager is now pain-free after<br />
a groundbreaking operation to<br />
remove a 'spare rib' that she was<br />
born with.<br />
Charlie Wright, 15, lived with the extra<br />
rib, near her collar bone for many years<br />
without it causing any problems, after<br />
being diagnosed with it when she was a<br />
young child. The only tell-tale sign was a<br />
small, bony lump near her neck.<br />
But in December 2014, as she pushed<br />
herself up out of her bed, she felt intense<br />
pain surge through her body which would<br />
not go away.<br />
Charlie said: “I just felt this pain like I’d<br />
never felt before. I couldn’t move my arm<br />
at all.”<br />
Her mum Sammy said: “She was just<br />
screaming and shouting. She was in<br />
absolute agony. It was so sudden.”<br />
At first Charlie and her parents did not<br />
link it to the extra rib, but after x-rays<br />
and scans were carried out it was clear it<br />
was the cause. The tests revealed a rare<br />
complication; the extra rib had a hinge-like<br />
joint in it which was trapping blood vessels<br />
and nerves, causing severe pain.<br />
It is a condition that is sometimes seen<br />
in much older patients, but doctors had<br />
never seen it in someone of Charlie’s age.<br />
William Tennant, Consultant Vascular<br />
Surgeon based at QMC, explained:<br />
“Charlie was born with an extra rib, called<br />
a ‘cervical rib’. Lots of people have them,<br />
but not as big as Charlie’s.<br />
“The extra rib was joined on to an<br />
abnormal lump of bone on her first (top)<br />
rib, and there was a joint in the middle.<br />
“The major nerves leading to Charlie's left<br />
arm, and the artery supplying it with blood<br />
were being squeezed very severely by the<br />
extra rib, which, I think, had bent at its<br />
joint when she pushed herself up from bed<br />
causing sudden onset of severe pain and<br />
numbness.”<br />
For the next three months Charlie required<br />
strong painkillers and was regularly in<br />
and out of hospital as doctors monitored<br />
the extra rib and determined the best<br />
treatment option.<br />
In March 2015, the day before her 15 th<br />
birthday she underwent the operation. It<br />
was a nerve-wracking time for Charlie and<br />
her parents.<br />
Charlie said: “I didn’t want an operation<br />
and I was really scared about it because<br />
I am terrified of needles. I don’t really<br />
remember much about what happened,<br />
but I know that the first thing I did when<br />
I came round was take a selfie and put it<br />
on Snapchat! I wanted to show everyone<br />
what I’d been through.”<br />
Sammy said: “We were in the recovery<br />
area and she kept asking me and the nurse<br />
where her phone was and we wondered<br />
what she was talking about. When we<br />
gave it to her she lifted her arm straight<br />
up in the air, something she wouldn’t have<br />
been able to do before, and took a selfie!<br />
“I think the painkillers she was on<br />
probably helped, but it was quite amazing<br />
to see.”<br />
Mr Tennant said the operation was<br />
extremely tricky, but a great success: “We<br />
had to very carefully move the blood<br />
vessels and nerves out of the way to find<br />
the extra rib. Even the smallest slip could<br />
have left Charlie paralysed in that arm, or<br />
with reduced circulation.<br />
“Once that was done, we cut the rib away<br />
with its joint and the lump of bone on her<br />
first rib. When the rib was removed, all<br />
of the nerves and blood vessels relaxed<br />
back into their normal place without any<br />
pressure.”<br />
Charlie is now pain-free with no ongoing<br />
symptoms.<br />
She said: “When I look back I can’t really<br />
believe everything that happened, it<br />
doesn’t feel real. Everyone who looked<br />
after me at the hospital was great. I spent<br />
so much time here and everyone from the<br />
surgeons to the nurses on the wards really<br />
looked after me.”<br />
Sammy said: “Me and Charlie’s dad can’t<br />
thank the team enough for what they’ve<br />
done.”