What is Mehta’s Growth Guidance Casting?

MGGC is the only conservative, gentle, and noninvasive treatment for PIS.

EDF Casting

British orthopedic surgeon Dr. Min. H. Mehta, F.R.C.S., introduced the Early Treatment EDF (Elongation, Derotation, Flexion) casting technique (now called the Mehta Growth Guidance Casting Protocol – MGGC) for the gentle and permanent correction of progressive infantile scoliosis.  The MGGC protocol is a set of treatment principles that specifically adapts EDF Casting (extension, derotation and flexion) to treat infants and toddlers.Her findings show that a child’s rapid growth guided by EDF casting can allow curved spines to grow straight.

Between 1975 and 2000, Dr. Mehta tracked the results of 136 patients whose progressive infantile scoliosis was treated with the MGGC protocol. This treatment protocol is a series of plaster casts, applied under anesthesia every 8 to 16 weeks, until curves measured under a 10 degree Cobb angle. Most patients experienced full correction.  A major finding of this study is that successful MGGC treatment needs to begin before 2 years of age. Significant correction can still be attained and maintained beyond age 2, and studies have also shown that MGGC can buy valuable growth time for other types of scoliosis, acting as a delay tactic prior to surgical intervention.

The Mehta Method requires a specialized casting frame that accommodates the allows a gentle untwisting of the spinal curve. Surgeons and institutions are actively moving towards Mehta casting as thel first line of defense because it is effective, noninvasive, and without complications when applied by a Mehta-trained surgeon.

While historically, the most common casting method used in the US to treat adolescent scoliosis has been Risser casting, it addresses only two dimensions of spinal curvature – elongation and derotation. In 1964, French Drs Morel and Cotrel revolutionized and improved upon the Risser technique by adding the third dimension – flexion.  As it was not designed with the rapid growth of infants and children in mind, Risser casting can cause rib and chest wall deformities. Scoliosis affects the body in three dimensions and the EDF casting technique addresses all three.

During the first 2 years if life, on average a child can be expected to grow, on average, 24 centimeters…

The MGGC protocol, developed by pediatric orthopedic surgeon Min Mehta, MD, FRCS, is a set of treatment principles that specifically adapts EDF Casting (elongation, derotation and flexion) to treat infants and toddlers.

During the first two years of life, the human body grows at an extremely rapid rate – Mehta’s Growth Guidance Casting (MGGC) harnesses this vigorous natural growth as the corrective force and creates the possibility for young spines to grow straight three-dimensionally.

It cannot be overstated that Early Detection and Early Treatment can dramatically lessen the number of casts required and the total time a child spends in casts.