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Joel first came to Nationwide Children's Hospital for aneurysmal bone cyst in his right shoulder.
He was having some pain and swelling in his right shoulder and wasn't able to raise his
right arm.
An Aneurysmal bone cyst is a destructive tumor of the bone. That literally destroys the bone.
And in Joel's case it was his whole shoulder blade that attaches to the arm and gives you
mobility in your shoulder and it was destroying better than 80% of his whole scapula.
He couldn't move his arms up to shake your hand. He was having a lot of pain in a regular
basis but essentially it was destroying the majority of his shoulder.
Joel's condition was quite serious and the surgical option was going to be literally
to essentially remove the whole shoulder blade which meant, his arm will then be fused to
his ribs and he wouldn't move the whole shoulder at all after that.
This treatment that Dr. Shiels offered to us remarkable because the alternative would
have been a surgery. The healing process of course would have taken much longer. But even
long term, he would not have a full range of motion in his arm and there would have
been significant scarring.
The fact that it's nonsurgical is so nice because recovery time is incredible.
Dr. William Shiels: When we say minimal invasive, we mean we're going in with needles instead
of incisions and scalpels, and instruments. The approach that we take is not to necessarily
going to remove the tumor but more importantly to go in and kill the tumor in place. The
body does the cleanup work. The drugs that we use will kill the tumor cells and the body
will clean it up.
Joel's course of treatment was remarkable. The total course of his treatment was a series
of four treatments and after the third treatment it was hard to find any evidence of the tumor.
His shoulder blade had regrown almost completely after three treatments.
Joel's Mother: Today, three years past the point of Joel's diagnosis. He has full range
of motion in his right arm and the bone has grown back completely. He's doing amazing.
The staff at Nationwide Children's Hospital have been wonderful. They have made the entire
process something that Joel actually looks forward to.
The beauty of our hospital is the unique talent and the innovation. The combination of the
researchers and clinicians that partners together with the nurses and technologist to offer
treatments that are not available anywhere else in the world right now. The treatment
that Joel had is not available anywhere else in the United States for that matter available
anywhere else in the world.