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On the Road Again
This Jackson teen calls his revolutionary, minimally invasive surgery at Ocean
Medical Center a "lucky break," following a not-so-lucky break of his collarbone.
Nineteen-year-old William Gilberti
of Jackson vividly remembers
what he felt when a car struck him
while riding his motorcycle: first
surprise, then shock. He’d never
been in an accident before, and
he had never broken a bone. But
in just one instant, he had his first
taste of both of these misfortunes.
The next emotions to hit him
were pain, from his broken clavicle
(or collarbone), then the sting of
disappointment, from learning that
surgery is not typically performed
to repair this damaged bone. For Bill,
this meant the possibility of enduring
months of discomfort and seriously
limited mobility. Understandably,
he and his mother, Doreen, were
disheartened by this early diagnosis
and the likely course of action first
described to them.
Finding Another Option
Doreen was clearly relieved that her
son’s injuries were not more serious.
Yet she couldn’t help but wonder if
he might be left with some permanent
disability. She was also concerned
about the healing process: How would
her very active teenage son manage
during the potentially long stretch
of time it would require for the bone
to heal naturally?
Bill, too, was hoping for a different
option that would allow him to get back
to his typically fast-paced lifestyle, which
includes surfing, riding, a full-time job,
and a nighttime college course schedule.
That’s when mother and son received
good news from an orthopedic surgeon.
The Power of the Pin
"After I examined Bill and was able
to get a good look at the break he
sustained, I was confident that he’d be a good candidate for a new surgical
procedure that would get him back
to his former level of activity quickly
and safely," says Brian Katt, M.D.,
an orthopedic surgeon on the medical
staff of Ocean Medical Center.
In an operating suite at Ocean
Medical Center, Dr. Katt implanted
a small intramedullary pin into Bill’s
broken clavicle. Intramedullary devices
are most traditionally used to align
or stabilize fractures that occur in the
longer bones of the extremities, such
as the femur or tibia. Only recently
have surgeons begun using this type
of device to fix clavicle fractures.
The small pin, which is inserted
through an incision no more than
a couple of inches wide, serves to
support the bone in its normal position
through the healing process. Once
the bone merges back together, patients
undergo a second, relatively fast
procedure under local anesthesia
to have the pin removed.
"Traditionally without surgery,"
Dr. Katt clarifies, "a broken clavicle
can heal on its own, but it can take
a prolonged time to do so." Additionally,
as Bill and Doreen suspected, Dr. Katt
affirms that patients sometimes
experience limited mobility and
discomfort for many months following
a clavicle break. They may also
have permanent functional impairment
and chronic pain if the bone is not
aligned correctly.
With the same-day pin procedure,
however, patients report full, painless
mobility of the upper extremity about
three weeks after the surgery. For active
people like Bill, this is especially
important. Follow-up physical therapy
or rehabilitation is not required.
Back on Track
According to Dr. Katt, Bill’s healing
process has gone extremely well and
the surgery enabled him to make a
speedy recovery with no limitations. He’s back to working and studying,
and even back to riding — both the
road and the surf.
Doreen smiles with pride when
she talks about Bill. She also smiles
when she talks about his treatment
at Ocean Medical Center. "The entire
team took excellent care of him.
I am glad that we went to Ocean."
 – Lynne Nouvel
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