Gorham-Stout disease: 12 years, two patients and one innovation

Dan and Alex, a few weeks after Alex’s surgery for Gorham-Stout disease (Photo Susanne Malloy) On a snowy Saturday in January, two mothers sat sipping tea and conversing about their sons. It was an ordinary scene, but the women’s conversation was far from ordinary. The scariest thing a doctor can tell you is ‘I don’t know. I’ve never seen this before.’ To find two doctors who treated this before and then to see Dan doing so well is tremendously gratifying. ~ Susanne Malloy Susanne’s son Alexander Malloy, 14, had been recently diagnosed with Gorham-Stout disease. Gorham-Stout, also referred to as “vanishing-bone” disease, triggers a process that destroys bones and typically affects a single area like the shoulder, jaw hip, rib or spine. “It was shocking,” recalls Susanne. An MRI earlier that week, prompted by a worsening of her son’s mild scoliosis, had shown Alex was missing bones in his spine and likely had Gorham-Stout. After the MRI, Alex’s orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Lawrence Karlin, reassured Susanne and her husband Tom that Boston Children’s Hospital would have a plan for their son. As Susanne and Tom digested the diagnosis, she began thinking Gorham-Stout, a rare bone disease of the lymphatic system reported in about 300 patients, sounded familiar. “I can’t have heard of it before,” she told herself. The feeling persisted, so she called a friend, who said, “That sounds like Dan Ventresca.” Twelve years earlier, Dan, who lived a few...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Our Patients’ Stories Research and Innovation Dr. Cameron Trenor Dr. Daniel Hedequist Dr. Lawrence Karlin Gorham-Stout disease rare disease spinal fusion surgery Vascular Anomalies Center Source Type: news