Marguerite asked the question (I’m paraphrasing):
“I have been told that I am a candidate for Back Surgery for Degenerative Disc Disease. My question is this: How many Back Surgeries am I going to need? Yes, how many? I have seen too many Failed Back Surgeries, too many redo’s, repeats and too many people seeking disability because of Failed Back Surgeries…”
Just the fact that Marguerite asked this question tells me that she has done her research. I strongly recommend anyone seeking neck surgery or back surgery to do the same thing. Spinal Surgery is irreversible! With the advances in Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression the need for spinal surgery of any kind is extremely rare. It is especially important to do your research since the number one cause of Failed Back Surgery Syndrome is “improper screening of the patient”. In other words, the patient didn’t actually NEED the surgery in the first place. Therefore, the patient continues to have the same symptoms after the surgery that they suffered before the surgery. I don’t care how much you like your doctor; no doctor is going to care about you the way you care about you – not even your Uncle Frank who is also a doctor!
Back to Marguerite’s question “How many Back Surgeries am I going to need?”
This is a difficult question to answer for two reasons: 1) it depends greatly on your age, and 2) long-term research on surgical success rates are extremely rare (it seems that docs – like most of us – don’t like to air their dirty laundry).
Short answer: If you are 80 years old it is likely that you will only need one back surgery because you will likely (based on statistics) be dead before you would require a second one. If you are less than 80 years old then it appears that you have a 15-18% chance of needing a repeat surgery within 5 years and about a 67% chance of needing a repeat surgery within 10 years. The younger you are, the more likely you will require more repeat surgeries!
The rest of this post explains how I came up with these numbers.
One research article I found on the subject comes from Spine, a highly-respected peer-reviewed medical journal:
Seven- to 10-year Outcome of Decompressive Surgery for Degenerative Lumbar Spinal Stenosis
Results: Average preoperative age was 69 years and eight patients received fusion. Of 88 patients in the original cohort, 20 (23%) were deceased and 20 (23%) had undergone re-operation by 7- to 10-year follow-up. Fifty-five patients answered questionnaires. Average duration of follow-up was 8.1 years. Thirty-three percent of the respondents had severe back pain at followup, 53% were unable to walk two blocks…
Commentary:
1/3 (33%) of the patients had severe low back pain an average of 8.1 years after the surgery!
53% of the patients were unable to walk two blocks!
23% underwent another surgery during this time.
Of course, this also assumes that the deceased patients (20% of them) had the same levels of pain and disability.
These are all fascinating numbers, but lets take a closer look at them. If we assume that the 23% that had another surgery responded well to the surgery (i.e. were greatly improved at the time of the questionnaire) then we can subtract them from the total number of respondents. This would mean that 23% received re-operations while the REMAINING 43% (33% of the non-operated 77%) continued to suffer severe low back pain!
Put another way you could say that 67% (or 2/3) of the patients that underwent Back Surgery either repeated the surgery within 10 years or were suffering to such a degree that surgery would be considered an option!
Another study from Spine:
5-year reoperation rates after different types of lumbar spine surgery.
Unadjusted reoperation rates over the 5-year period were greater for patients who underwent fusion than for patients who underwent nonfusion surgery (18% vs. 15%, respectively)…
Commentary: In other words 18% of Lumbar Spinal Fusion Patients underwent reoperation within 5 years! 15% of nonfusion surgery patients underwent reoperation within 5 years! If you compare this with the previous study you will notice that the average reoperation occurred around 8.1 years which is over 3 years beyond the scope of this study. Therefore, it can be assumed that the reoperation number would go way up if this study had been extended by 3 or 5 years or more.
“How many Back Surgeries am I going to need?”
Short answer: If you are 80 years old it is likely that you will only need one back surgery because you will likely (based on statistics) be dead before you would require a second one. If you are less than 80 years old then it appears that you have a 15-18% chance of needing a repeat surgery within 5 years and about a 67% chance of needing a repeat surgery within 10 years. The younger you are, the more likely you will require more repeat surgeries!
Alternatives to Spinal Surgery: Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression using some of the latest technology like the DRX9000 Spinal Decompression Unit have dramatically reduced the need for the majority of spinal surgeries. DRX9000 Spinal Decompression is non-surgical, painless and highly effective. Look in to Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression Therapy before considering surgery.
To learn more visit our website at http://www.OCSpinalDecompression.com or call us at (949) 857-1888.
This article was originally posted on the Orange County Spinal Decompression Blog (http://www.SpinalDecompression-OrangeCounty.com). It was posted by Orange County Spinal Decompression at the Irvine Family Health Center – Spinal Decompression Offices in Irvine, CA (Orange County, CA).
5-year reoperation rates after different types of lumbar spine surgery.
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Back Surgery Question: How many back surgeries will I need?
Marguerite asked the question (I’m paraphrasing):
Just the fact that Marguerite asked this question tells me that she has done her research. I strongly recommend anyone seeking neck surgery or back surgery to do the same thing. Spinal Surgery is irreversible! With the advances in Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression the need for spinal surgery of any kind is extremely rare. It is especially important to do your research since the number one cause of Failed Back Surgery Syndrome is “improper screening of the patient”. In other words, the patient didn’t actually NEED the surgery in the first place. Therefore, the patient continues to have the same symptoms after the surgery that they suffered before the surgery. I don’t care how much you like your doctor; no doctor is going to care about you the way you care about you – not even your Uncle Frank who is also a doctor!
Back to Marguerite’s question “How many Back Surgeries am I going to need?”
This is a difficult question to answer for two reasons: 1) it depends greatly on your age, and 2) long-term research on surgical success rates are extremely rare (it seems that docs – like most of us – don’t like to air their dirty laundry).
Short answer: If you are 80 years old it is likely that you will only need one back surgery because you will likely (based on statistics) be dead before you would require a second one. If you are less than 80 years old then it appears that you have a 15-18% chance of needing a repeat surgery within 5 years and about a 67% chance of needing a repeat surgery within 10 years. The younger you are, the more likely you will require more repeat surgeries!
The rest of this post explains how I came up with these numbers.
One research article I found on the subject comes from Spine, a highly-respected peer-reviewed medical journal:
Seven- to 10-year Outcome of Decompressive Surgery for Degenerative Lumbar Spinal Stenosis
Commentary:
1/3 (33%) of the patients had severe low back pain an average of 8.1 years after the surgery!
53% of the patients were unable to walk two blocks!
23% underwent another surgery during this time.
Of course, this also assumes that the deceased patients (20% of them) had the same levels of pain and disability.
These are all fascinating numbers, but lets take a closer look at them. If we assume that the 23% that had another surgery responded well to the surgery (i.e. were greatly improved at the time of the questionnaire) then we can subtract them from the total number of respondents. This would mean that 23% received re-operations while the REMAINING 43% (33% of the non-operated 77%) continued to suffer severe low back pain!
Put another way you could say that 67% (or 2/3) of the patients that underwent Back Surgery either repeated the surgery within 10 years or were suffering to such a degree that surgery would be considered an option!
Another study from Spine:
5-year reoperation rates after different types of lumbar spine surgery.
Commentary: In other words 18% of Lumbar Spinal Fusion Patients underwent reoperation within 5 years! 15% of nonfusion surgery patients underwent reoperation within 5 years! If you compare this with the previous study you will notice that the average reoperation occurred around 8.1 years which is over 3 years beyond the scope of this study. Therefore, it can be assumed that the reoperation number would go way up if this study had been extended by 3 or 5 years or more.
“How many Back Surgeries am I going to need?”
Short answer: If you are 80 years old it is likely that you will only need one back surgery because you will likely (based on statistics) be dead before you would require a second one. If you are less than 80 years old then it appears that you have a 15-18% chance of needing a repeat surgery within 5 years and about a 67% chance of needing a repeat surgery within 10 years. The younger you are, the more likely you will require more repeat surgeries!
Alternatives to Spinal Surgery: Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression using some of the latest technology like the DRX9000 Spinal Decompression Unit have dramatically reduced the need for the majority of spinal surgeries. DRX9000 Spinal Decompression is non-surgical, painless and highly effective. Look in to Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression Therapy before considering surgery.
To learn more visit our website at http://www.OCSpinalDecompression.com or call us at (949) 857-1888.
This article was originally posted on the Orange County Spinal Decompression Blog (http://www.SpinalDecompression-OrangeCounty.com). It was posted by Orange County Spinal Decompression at the Irvine Family Health Center – Spinal Decompression Offices in Irvine, CA (Orange County, CA).
5-year reoperation rates after different types of lumbar spine surgery.
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