Back Surgery

Artificial disc replacement is a medical procedure in which degenerated discs in the spine are replaced with artificial ones. The procedure is primarily used to treat chronic, severe low back pain from degenerative disc disease.

Presently the standard of care for chronic pain from a degenerated disc is a spinal fusion surgery. This involves fusing two vertebrae together to remove motion in that segment of the spine, thus reducing or eliminating pain associated with the motion. The artificial disc has been developed with the goal of reducing or eliminating the pain while still allowing motion in that segment of the spine, thus retaining the original physiologic makeup of the spine. Another theoretical advantage of the artificial disc is that it should prevent premature breakdown of adjacent levels of the low spine, which is currently a potential risk of spine fusion surgery.

When you visit your doctor to get a diagnosis for the pain you’re experiencing in your back, they may recommend that you undergo surgery. In this article I want to go over back surgery and the things you should consider before going through with this procedure.

The first thing you should realize is that if you have doubts about your doctor’s advice, or feel that surgery is not necessary for you, it would be wise to get the opinion of another healthcare professional. This doesn’t mean you have to switch doctors, it just means you want to get the opinion of somone else.

1. “Imaging studies (MRI, CT, CAT Scan, etc.) overestimate the problem, resulting in an increased number of unnecessary surgeries, yet thousands of MD’s and DO’s don’t know this. Surgery is the last resort”.

2. “90% of MRI’s read as abnormal.”

3. “Early and frequent use of imaging is discouraged because disc abnormalities are common and often resorb within 6 months (especially with proper spinal care). Use of such tests leads to overdiagnosis, dependence on medical care, and further unnecessary testing.”

The narrowing of the spaces in the spine backbone results in pressure on the spinal cord and the nerve roots. The narrowing down may involve a small part or a large area of the spine. This narrowing may be a result of an injury to the spine due to accident or a natural aging process. Usually spinal stenosis arrives in both men and women after the age of 50.

To enable the doctor to decide whether spinal stenosis surgery is required or not a patient needs to give to the surgeon his complete medical history. Without any biases about the symptoms and the general health condition, the patient should submit the information to doctor. The medical professional will proceed with the physical test and examinations then.

If your back pain is chronic then chances are good you’ve tried all manner of conservative back pain remedies, stuff like resting, medication, heat or cold therapy, physical therapy, visits to the chiropractor and even cortiscosteroid injections. If the back pain persists it may be time to consider a more invasive approach.

Your primary care physician can help you find the right Neurosurgeon for your procedure. Here are some questions you should ask your surgeon well before your surgery date:

Back pain can be caused by a variety of reasons and is generally a very painful condition that requires diligent attention and treatment. Pains below the waist are often called lower back pains and can be caused my muscle pulls or straining the muscles with heavy work or lifting heavy objects, moving or sleeping in awkward position etc.

A Spinal Cord Stimulator(SCS) or Dorsal Column Stimulator (DCS) is an implantable medical device used to treat chronic pain of neurologic origin. An electric impulse generated by the device near the dorsal surface of the spinal cord provides a paresthesia (”tingling”) sensation that alters the perception of pain by the patient.

A trial is usually done before the permanent unit is placed. A temporary percutaneous lead is used and is connected to an external pulse generator. The trial is from 3 to 7 days. If the patient has at least 50% improvement in pain during the trial, the patient is considered a candidate for the permanent unit.

When a back surgery is done correctly and at the appropriate time, back surgery can be a godsend to the individual suffering from pain that sears into the leg or arm. For patients who are experiencing neurological symptoms like loss of control of the bowel or bladder, back surgery is necessary to prevent permanent paralysis. Patients with foot drop often must have back surgery performed quickly to prevent permanent nerve damage. Fortunately, these cases of emergency back surgery are not too common.

Most of us are familiar with back pain of some kind. You bend over to pick something up or twist the wrong way, and the pain hits you like a baseball bat. Even though it hurts a lot, however, you usually get better in a few days by resting, using a heating pad or ice packs and taking anti-inflammatory medications.

Sometimes your back pain doesn’t go away, though. It may have been getting worse for a long time, and you’re tired of suffering with it. You’ve probably tried a lot of things besides home treatment, like prescription medications, steroid injections and physical therapy, and you’re still not getting relief.

New technologies, aging baby boomers and the improving reputations of area hospitals have back surgeries surging on Long Island.

Throughout the 15 hospitals of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Long Island’s largest hospital chain, spine surgeries are up by more than 1,000 over the past five years and the system is on pace to perform almost 3,000 back surgeries this year.

Spinal surgeries have also jumped at South Nassau Communities Hospital by 100 a year, with 500 back procedures expected to be performed before 2007 expires, according to Mary Weiner, South Nassau’s vice president for perioperative services.