Archives:
Surgery for Recurrent Disk Herniations
Unfortunately, even after successful lumbar discectomy surgery, there is between a 5% and 15% chance of a recurrent disk herniation at the same location. The reason is secondary to the nature, and size of the lumbar disk. Most disk herniations are pieces of annulus, endplate, and or nucleus elements of the disk. The fragments, however, are only […]
Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion Results
How are the Results for Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion? General consensus by most surgeons and patients report a 95%-98% success rate in terms of relief of arm pain. That statistic is very important for everyone to understand. Cervical Discectomy Surgery is successful for ARM PAIN. Unfortunately, that does not mean neck pain, or headaches. Just […]
The Cost of Medicare Spine Surgery
In this age of Healthcare cost transparency, few people really know what the US Government is really paying the doctors. In 2013, Bedlani et al published a fascination article called The Patient Perceptions of Physician Reimbursement for Spine Surgery. In the study, 200 consecutive patients of an outpatient clinic were provided an anonymous survey […]
Cervical Radiculopathy
What is Cervical Radiculopathy? The most common cause of Cervical Radiculopathy, a herniated nucleus pulposus (herniated disc), which pinches one of the nerves in the neck. Other causes of cervical radiculopathy include bone spurs, fractures, infections and tumors. Fortunately, most of the time, the causes are not as serious as the latter three. What are […]
Cervical Myelopathy
What is Cervical Myelopathy? By definition, it is any functional change of the spinal cord. Usually, it is caused by pinching of the spinal cord by bone spurs, disk herniations, or a combination. In the above MRI, the red circle identifies changes in the spinal cord (see the different coloration) in a man with complaints […]
Are Restrictions Post Discectomy Necessary?
After lumbar disk surgery, there is a common misconception that all future activities must be restricted. More and more evidence indicates that the vast majority of post lumbar discectomy patients can and should be able to return back to all activities. Medical Science is a constant evolution of thoughts and processes. Thirty years ago, patients […]
