hi doc
had spine fusion sept 97 c5/6c6/7 with plate that night after my surgery my hospital bed fell they took x rays the next day and said every was o.k. for the next 7 months i had severe pain and numbness in my neck arms and hands a catscan in april of 98 showed 5/6 fused ,but 6/7 not fused the doctor called it psdoarthrosis. my question to you is 1. could the bed falling have caused this? 2. can this be repaired successfully?
Follow Ups:
Re: c6/7 spinal fusion gone bad
Posted by Jan Buntyn on September 10, 1998 at 00:36:19:
In Reply to: c6/7 spinal fusion gone bad posted by pete on September 09, 1998 at 17:39:24:
I'd like to add some information that might be useful that Walt may want to comment on. Just last Sunday on the local PBS station KUHT here in Houston, a program called BREAKTHROUGH which highlights some of the latest medical technology, showed a procedure which I believe they called Instrumented Spinal Fusion--they use a lapiroscopical (?) technique to make small incisions through the abdomen instead of having to separate/scrape away (whatever they do to the back) muscle from the back, since the muscles in front of the spine are not as formidable. The patient they were showing had his surgery done in North Carolina, and they said that the procedure is so new that it is only done in about a dozen hospitals nationwide, and so new that they showed a surgeon who came all the way from Japan to observe the surgery on this patient. They said that the procedure takes about half as long (2 to 3 hours) as a conventional spinal fusion, and that the rehabilitation time is also much shorter for this type of surgery as compared to the conventional surgery for spinal fusion. I thought this was worth mentioning and I'd like to hear Walt's opinion on this.
Follow Ups:
Re: c6/7 spinal fusion gone bad
Posted by Walt Stoll on September 10, 1998 at 12:00:51:
In Reply to: Re: c6/7 spinal fusion gone bad posted by Jan Buntyn on September 10, 1998 at 00:36:19:
Thanks, Jan.
These "anterior approaches" have been used for at least 50 years. I am sure that current fiberoptics technology creates many "variations on a theme". Unfortunately, only very selected kinds of problems are approachable this way. For those, it can be much less traumatic than the conventional approach.
With all the trauma, plates, etc., taht Pete has----not to mention the pseudarthrosis----I doubt that this would be a case they would be the least bit interested in.
I hope it lives up to its present hype although these things RARELY do.
Walt
Follow Ups:
Re: c6/7 spinal fusion gone bad
Posted by Walt Stoll on September 10, 1998 at 12:08:59:
In Reply to: c6/7 spinal fusion gone bad posted by pete on September 09, 1998 at 17:39:24:
Hi, Pete!
What a mess! I wish you had read the archives on this 'site (about all spinal conditions frequently surgerized) before your first surgery. You almost certainly would not be in the fix you are now. EVEN now, your best bet to make something good out of a bad situation would be to DO that reading and start doing what would help you to help this yourself. If any more surgery is needed, at least you would have the best outcome you can get BECAUSE of what you would be doing to help yourself at the same time.
By the way, your bed falling could easily have compromised your repair. You need an orthopedist (or neurosurgeon) who would be willing to testify against the system to get to the truth about this.
Read my response to Jan about YOUR note.
Walt
Re: c6/7 spinal fusion gone bad
Posted by seth on October 07, 1998 at 20:32:03:
In Reply to: Re: c6/7 spinal fusion gone bad posted by Walt Stoll on September 10, 1998 at 12:00:51:
In all likelihood, the bed falling (Though what that actually means I'm not quite clear on) has little or nothing to do with the development of a pseudoarthrosis(non-union). The pain from this may be correctable with either reoperation from anteriorly or else a posterior fuson using cable or metal plates and some bone graft from your hip. This will require a careful and complete work-up to determine that the pseudoarthrosis is actually the source of the pain. The laparoscopic procedures are widely available but would not be appropriate for your case. I hope this is helpful. Seth