March 15, 2007
Marie-Claude Pastorel is one of the 2 to 4% of young Quebecers afflicted with idiopathic scoliosis, a condition that results in
an abnormal three dimensions curvature of the spine. In Marie-Claude's case, the deformation had passed the 60-degree mark,
making surgical intervention necessary. In 2000, the young woman, then 18, underwent surgery led by Dr. Hubert Labelle,
orthopedic surgeon and Chief of Orthopedics at Centre hospitalier universitaire (CHU) Sainte-Justine. The operation, which
lasted nearly five hours, involved affixing metal implants to Marie-Claude's spine to force it to straighten, then fusing the
vertebrae with a bone graft to stabilize the spine.
https://www.polymtl.ca/salle-de-presse/en/newsreleases/toward-new-era-medical-practice-team-researchers-spine-biomechanics-led-ecole-polytechnique