Re: Rate of Spine Surgery Soars

[Guest guest]

Thank you, . This was very helpful.

For some reason your email was sent to my junk email site. I'm glad I found it. Joan

Here's a piece from the Wall Street Journal <http://tinyurl.com/45hmexq> published February 15th. Good reading. Short.

[Guest guest]

,An excellent start of info in the article you linked to and about the same info that was reported about a year ago as well.I did find it disappointing in that the study didn't actually provide any solid info as to why the increase in more complicated spine surgeries, nor did the other article a year ago.Just possible implications on greed, money etc.I don't know if that kind of info can be gleaned from a study though, as it could be tough to determine, but it is a serious concern and disturbing to me to see this going on.Even more disturbing to me is to see any spine patient, regardless of the age or insurance having far more complicated surgery, that many times can be treated with far less invasive surgical procedures, if surgery is an

indication for them.It does show though, how very important it is to get several opinions from several different spine surgeons that have not relationship with each other, before having any kind of spine surgery, or any surgery for that matter.It also shows that one needs to do a lot of research on line so that one can ask questions to the spine surgeon and clearly understand why a specific surgery is suggested vs a different one and if the answers are not satisfactory, that doctor should be crossed off the list in a possibility to use.My own experience in finding the "right spine surgeon for me" showed me that there are spine surgeons out there that are more than eager to do as extensive a spine surgery as they can possibly do, for the simplest spine problems and no matter what you say or ask them, they will say you need a fusion and when you question it, well, lets just say,

the attitude is they know everything and you know nothing and don't need to know.In total, I ran into about 8 or 9 of them and all wanted to do extensive 2 level spine fusions for a simple lateral recess stenosis that had me all but paralyzed in my right leg.One was willing to try and do a simple lateral release but assured me that I would be back in his office in less that 2 years requiring a fusions "so may as well do it now and get it over with."When I questioned this particular doctor about this he told me that he would have to do a laminectomy, removing the entire lamina of the vertebrae, ligaments muscle etc and that would leave the spine unstable and it would collapse.Having done lots of research before hand, I asked him why the hell would he do that when he could just do a simple laminotomy and remove just a tiny piece of the lamina and

nothing more than get in and widen the narrowed area and not leave the spine unstable and it was the preferred method to use.Needless to say this doc just hit the roof, I didn't know what I was talking about and the "gold standard" is what he did with surgery, not the "new fangled absurdity in spine surgery".He didn't know how well prepared I was, or my husband or my best friend who is a nurse, and before I could open my mouth, my best friend just said, "so you either do fusions right away for NO reason, or you set the patient up to have a fusion in the very near future. Nice racket you have going to make money, literally on the backs of your patients." He just walked out of of the room.Long story short for me, I returned to my original spine surgeon, had a one sided laminotomy and a widening of the lateral recess of the L4/L5 vertebrae, 1

inch incision, was in and out the same day in less than 12 hours, and have been fine since.2008 auto accident bulged the L3/L4 disc and had microdisectomy on that one when PT and injections did nothing. Again in and out the same day and be fine since.One real key to spine surgeries, that can be very successful, is to have the correct surgery for the spine issues going on.Having a minimal a surgery as could possibly be done for the issues and only proceed to further more complex surgery if it is needed.If less is not enough, one can always go for additional, but if the big one is done first, there is no turning back from that.And yes, spine surgeries can be very, very successful and all I have to do is look at my own spine surgeon who had a 2 level lumbar spine surgeon when in undergraduate

school. He was a football player and was severely injured and broke his back at the L3/L4,L4/L5.His spine was fused at that level more than 25 years ago. He went on to medical school, internship, residency etc to become a spine surgeon and has no problems with his spine. and yes, he does do fusions on his patients, but only when it is absolutely necessary and will always try to do as little as possible in spine surgery first.The fact that the following statement was made in the article you linked to really bothers me."The decision to do a more complex fusion versus a less complex fusion comes down to the surgeon's preference,"It should not be a surgeon's preference. it should be what is best for the patient, a surgery that fits the specific spine issue for the patient and not just what the doctor likes to do or feels comfortable doing because he does a lot of that kind of surgery.FranFrom: <Katzfilm1@...>Subject: Rate of Spine Surgery SoarsSpinal Stenosis Treatment Date: Thursday, February 17, 2011, 1:01 AM

Here's a piece from the Wall Street Journal <http://tinyurl.com/45hmexq> published February 15th. Good reading. Short.

[Guest guest]

On Feb 19, 2011, at 10:20 PM, Fran Barron wrote:

> The fact that the following statement was made in the article you

> linked to really bothers me.

>

> " The decision to do a more complex fusion versus a less complex

> fusion comes down to the surgeon's preference, "

>

> It should not be a surgeon's preference. it should be what is best

> for the patient, a surgery that fits the specific spine issue for

> the patient and not just what the doctor likes to do or feels

> comfortable doing because he does a lot of that kind of surgery.

Absolutely! (The way I read this was: Surgeons do what they want;

make sure you get the right surgeon -- that what he wants to do has

everything to do with what you need.)