Look Who it Was Random video

Magnet Replaces Scalpel for Scoliosis Treatment

2,659 views · Published 13 January 2016 · 2:27 · Indexed 28 October 2026

Channel: Lee Health · 2016 · Science & Technology

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From the day she was born, 8 year-old Alyna Lopez has been in and out of hospitals. 

“She has many appointments, many surgeries. It’s not easy, her life,” says Alyna’s mom, Lorena Lopez. 

In addition to major issues in the GI tract, Alyna had a hole in her heart, and kidneys that barely worked. She also has scoliosis: an abnormal curve in her spine, which doctors determined needed treatment.

“Patients who get severe scoliosis and that severe deformity, they have more heart and lung problems as they age and it does shorten your life span,” says Dr. Brett Shannon, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon on medical staff with Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida. 

If bracing is not an option to control scoliosis in young children, surgeons use growing rods, which help correct the curve while allowing the spine to grow. It requires surgery about every six months to lengthen the rods.

“We would go back to the operating room after we put the rods in place, we would make a small incision and we would adjust the rod,” says Dr. Shannon. 

Repeated trips to the operating room can be problematic for any child, but more so for kids that have additional medical issues. Now a new technology is keeping kids out of the OR, trading a scalpel for a magnet and getting the same results in the doctor’s office.

“The device is called a MAGEC Rod and it is a cutting edge technology that’s designed for growing children,” says Dr. Shannon. 

Alyna is the first child to get one in Southwest Florida. We were in the room when her rod was lengthened for the very first time.

“It’s going to make a little whirring noise, but you shouldn’t feel anything,” Dr. Shannon told Alyna. 

“It has an on/off button and a magnet. It’s held over the skin and you activate it and then it allows it to actuate the rod to grow it,” says Dr. Shannon. 

In minutes it is over.

A painless procedure, it will be performed every three months, meaning fewer trips to the hospital for Alyna. 

“It’s really hard for Alyna to recover and we need to stay in the hospital for a couple days and sometimes a week but with this one we are so happy we don't need to go back to surgeries anymore for lengthening,” says Lorena. 

“We have some complicated cases so I think more and more kids will be able to take advantage of it,” says Dr. Shannon. 
This expandable rod stands to help more children in Southwest Florida with their growing problem. 

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Lee Memorial Health System in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of medical care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For nearly a century, we’ve been providing our community with everything from primary care treatment to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries.

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