Findlay boy undergoes rare surgery

12/28/2000

Doctors at Mercy Children's Hospital in Toledo yesterday successfully completed a limb salvage surgery, a relatively rare procedure done to prevent amputation of cancer-ravaged limbs.

During the operation on Tyler Lauck, 9, of Findlay, surgeons replaced the bottom half of Tyler's right femur with a metal brace. They also replaced Tyler's knee with a metal, artificial knee.

The surgery went well and Tyler is doing fine, according to a Mercy spokeswoman.

Limb salvage surgery for bone cancer patients is a relatively new procedure. Previous to limb salvage surgery, patients would have had to undergo chemotherapy or amputation to try to prevent damage to their limb.

This is the first limb salvage surgery done by Mercy physicians, and it's believed to be the first local surgery of its type done on children.

A spokeswoman for ProMedica said its surgeons have done similar surgeries but only on adults.