1. < Spine Health

I’ve had all my hardware removed after T2-T10 fusion. Ask me anything.

Posted by lylaaaa @lylaaaa, Nov 14, 2023

I was in a car accident and fractured several vertebrae in my thoracic spine, including a T6 burst. Fused T2-T10 in 2012.
Pain was unbearable for years and never improved.
In 2017, I got all the hardware removed. Every single piece of it. Not replaced, not revised, completely removed. It IS possible.
Realistically, your pain will not disappear. You will still have bad days and worse days.
For me, though, on a good day my pain is about 50-80% less than it was. Even my bad days and awful days (which are fewer and farther between) are nowhere near the pain I experienced before getting the hardware removed.
I searched for a couple of years for info on hardware removal but the internet is not always your best option. This was my process:
I found a new primary care doctor within a large medical system (Houston Methodist) with several hospitals and clinics in my region, so that all my medical info would be portable and easily accessed by all my doctors.
I went to see her and said simply and clearly, “I want to talk to a surgeon about hardware removal.” She did some digging and referred me to an orthopedic surgeon. I told him the same thing, answered all his questions regarding my pain, and he agreed it was a viable option.
The insurance company insisted on a procedure to make sure it would work. I was referred to a pain management doctor who gave me numbing injections at every level of my fusion. I had to rate my pain levels for a week before and a week after.
They required a 30% reduction in overall pain levels to cover the surgery.
A few weeks later, I had the surgery! I was warned in advance that they might get in there and see that some or all of the hardware was still necessary, or would be unable to be removed. Luckily, that didn’t happen. All the hardware was removed. Surgery took about an hour!

It was absolutely the single best decision I have ever made. Am I still in pain? Absolutely. Is it anywhere near the kind of pain I experienced daily before the removal? Not even close.
Hardware can removed about a year after fusion, but there is a point at which it can no longer be removed. I recommend seeing a surgeon sooner rather than later. If your doctor says no, go see another!

Photo of my removed hardware is attached (yes, I got to keep it lol).

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Spine Health Support Group.

anoyymous123 | @anoyymous123 | Aug 5 7:34am
In reply to @jenniferhunter "@anoyymous123 I understand what you are saying. If hardware is placed externally on the spine, it..." + (show)
@jenniferhunter

@anoyymous123 I understand what you are saying. If hardware is placed externally on the spine, it does restrict spine movement. If it is removed and there has not been a spinal fusion, removing that hardware essentially allows the spine to be able to move again, and that may not be a good thing. When hardware is removed after a fusion has healed, the fused bone would maintain the support of the spine, and removal of the hardware may not make any difference as far as spinal stability is concerned. A spine with an extensive fusion or big deformity corrective surgery may need support from the hardware to remain in place. That of course is a decision between the surgeon and the patient.

I do appreciate your comments, and that is why we as patients should learn as much as we can about our condition and surgical decisions and ask lots of questions.

Jennifer

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Just like to add as part of laminectomy surgeon did intertransvese fusion and removed nterspinious spacers l3 to l5 now chiropracter says spine has shifted even more afgter vtaking x rays

REPLY
anoyymous123 | @anoyymous123 | Aug 5 8:08am
In reply to @jenniferhunter "@anoyymous123 I understand what you are saying. If hardware is placed externally on the spine, it..." + (show)
@jenniferhunter

@anoyymous123 I understand what you are saying. If hardware is placed externally on the spine, it does restrict spine movement. If it is removed and there has not been a spinal fusion, removing that hardware essentially allows the spine to be able to move again, and that may not be a good thing. When hardware is removed after a fusion has healed, the fused bone would maintain the support of the spine, and removal of the hardware may not make any difference as far as spinal stability is concerned. A spine with an extensive fusion or big deformity corrective surgery may need support from the hardware to remain in place. That of course is a decision between the surgeon and the patient.

I do appreciate your comments, and that is why we as patients should learn as much as we can about our condition and surgical decisions and ask lots of questions.

Jennifer

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unfortunately wife did not ask enough questions pre surgery after surgery for past year has more pain than ever before. surgeon removed 3 interspinious spacers l3-l5, imtertransverse fusion"what is that" no hardware and laminectomy Now spine is distorted and shifted Lesson learned to late.

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ginnyjm | @ginnyjm | Aug 5 8:56am

Has anyone had the Minutes device removed? It never helped, but I’m not sure how safe it’d be to remove as it’s going through bone!

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1 reply
ginnyjm | @ginnyjm | Aug 6 8:16am
In reply to @ginnyjm "Has anyone had the Minutes device removed? It never helped, but I’m not sure how safe..." + (show)
@ginnyjm

Has anyone had the Minutes device removed? It never helped, but I’m not sure how safe it’d be to remove as it’s going through bone!

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Sorry - I meant the Minuteman device!

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1 reply
Mentor
Jennifer, Volunteer Mentor | @jenniferhunter | Aug 6 6:41pm
In reply to @ginnyjm "Sorry - I meant the Minuteman device!" + (show)
@ginnyjm

Sorry - I meant the Minuteman device!

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@ginnyjm I don't have experience with the Minuteman device, but you may be interested in this discussion about it. Perhaps you may wish to ask your question there. As I understand it, this device is screwed onto the outside of the spine, correct? It sounds like removing it would be possible, but you would also be cutting through muscles in the back to get there. That is a question to ask a spine surgeon.

Spine Health - "Anyone had a interspinous process device (Minuteman) fusion procedure?"
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/minuteman-fusion-procedure/

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Pet Detective | @berniej1 | Aug 7 7:40pm
In reply to @jenniferhunter "@upstatephil The titanium in surgical hardware is an alloy or mixture of titanium and other metals...." + (show)
@jenniferhunter

@upstatephil The titanium in surgical hardware is an alloy or mixture of titanium and other metals. It is possible that any of the metals used can be a culprit in an immune response.

You might find more information at https://www.orthopedicanalysis.com/ . They test for reactions to materials in implants. When I did a blood test with them, it was not covered by insurance.

Another source of information is the Environmental Health Center Dallas. https://www.ehcd.com/

They test for and treat many environmental immune issues including implant sensitivities and the type of testing they do is how they mix an antigen mixture for allergy shots which is specific to the individual patient. This is the practice that started this field of medicine although the pioneering doctor passed a few years ago. You can also search for other practitioners in this field at https://www.aaemonline.org/

I learned all of this from my doctor who was certified in Environmental Medicine. I had allergy testing and precise mixtures for allergy shots for things I am allergic to.

There is a member on Connect who traveled to the Texas location (moved out of Dallas to a suburb) for testing and treatment. You can find the discussion here.

Joint Replacements - "Is there a hospital or Dr in US who understand metal allergies in TKR?"
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/is-there-a-hospital-or-dr-in-us-who-understand-metal-allergies-in-tkr/
Jennifer

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Jennifer, the recommendation you made to the testing labratory https://www.orthopedicanalysis.com/ is excellent advice. I will be meeting with my orthorpedic surgeon next week to discuss the surgery he is recommending and I will be adding this to my list of questions. Some of the allergic reactions that patients have reported are scary. It would be nice to know in advance if I might be allergic to the material that will implanted for the fusion.
Thank you for sharing!

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1 reply
Mentor
Jennifer, Volunteer Mentor | @jenniferhunter | Aug 7 11:47pm
In reply to @berniej1 "Jennifer, the recommendation you made to the testing labratory https://www.orthopedicanalysis.com/ is excellent advice. I will be..." + (show)
@berniej1

Jennifer, the recommendation you made to the testing labratory https://www.orthopedicanalysis.com/ is excellent advice. I will be meeting with my orthorpedic surgeon next week to discuss the surgery he is recommending and I will be adding this to my list of questions. Some of the allergic reactions that patients have reported are scary. It would be nice to know in advance if I might be allergic to the material that will implanted for the fusion.
Thank you for sharing!

Jump to this post

@berniej1 Thank you. One thing to also be aware of is that it may take a period of time before a person develops an allergy. I did these blood tests from Orthopedic Analysis and they did not show allergies to any of the tested materials prior to my spine surgery. I had issues with pierced earrings years ago, and reacted to all of them and had to give them up, so this test result surprised me. The spine surgeon I was seeing at the time refused to authorize the tests, so I asked my primary care doctor, and they took the blood sample and I sent it in. Insurance did not cover any of it.

When I had spine surgery (with a different surgeon), I was able to have it without hardware with only a bone disc spacer so I had no chance of an allergy issue. That is how they used to do fusions before hardware plates were invented. I stayed in a neck brace until it fused which was 3 months. My spine surgery was 8 years ago. 4 years ago, I broke my ankle, and got titanium plates to fix the bones. It was 6 months after that, I was getting large patches of hives on my arms and legs. I had to stay on antihistamines all the time or the hives took over. I could not have the hardware removed for at least a year. I did have the hardware plates removed from my ankle, and I stopped getting hives. My surgeon didn't really connect the hives with the titanium plates, but I did.

I had also had dental work removed after my spine surgery that contained various metals and I replaced some teeth with failing root canals with ceramic dental implants. My health improved immediately, which was a significant improvement for my asthma. It was not long after becoming metal free, that the ankle fracture happened.

I also want to share a link to a practice in Texas that treats patients with immune problems from implants. Environmental Health Center Dallas https://www.ehcd.com/ There is information available on their website. If implants and hardware cannot be removed and are causing problems, there is hope in treatment.

It's great that you will be discussing this with your surgeon. Hopefully this can guide you to a good decision with your specialist.

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