Exploring scoliosis with Mark Harris

During Paul O’Grady’s Little Heroes series two, we’re shining a spotlight on the inspiring staff across the hospital who help children get better and fulfil their potential. Consultant spinal surgeon Mark Harris treated patient Reagan, who features on episode one. Here he shares his expertise on scoliosis with us.  “My work involves treating children with problems with their spine.” Mark begins. “There are many common problems that we encounter, but one of the most common is scoliosis, which is what Reagan had.”

“Scoliosis is not a very common problem in the general population, particularly severe curves that require surgical treatment, but GOSH is a specialist centre that children all over the UK get sent to, meaning that treatment for severe scoliosis is a common operation for us to do here. We do it every week.

“Reagan’s treatment has involved reviewing her scoliosis, seeing what kind of scoliosis she has, assessing the severity, how it's progressing and then giving her information about what the likelihood is of the curve getting worse over time, and what the effects of that will be, so she knows what the problem is and what might happen in the future.

“Over a period of time we observe her, and if her curve gets worse, then we give her the option for surgery to stop it getting worse. If everyone, including the patient and family, agrees that surgery is the right thing to do, the next step is the operation. We then assess her over a period of two years to make sure that everything is going well.

“Reagan is a very vibrant child, and she’s good fun too. I’ve seen her once since the operation, at a routine six weeks post-surgery consultation. She looks like she’s doing really well.”

“Working at GOSH is brilliant. The team that I work with and the expertise and care that we deliver makes me feel confident that we are able to do a very good job for our patients.

“Some families you get to know very well. We follow our patients for one to two years after their operations, and we can also see them for a year or two prior to the operation. Some patients who present very early and who are very young can see us from as early as one or two years old, up until the age of 18.”

Read more about Reagan's story as explained by her mum, Cassie