Understanding surgeon speak and the different approaches to fusion

@kdks99
Actually I live near many major teaching hospitals in New York City and I find the opposite is true they seem to not want to do anything very different all of them are saying fusion except one woman who said I should not have fusion she didn't think it would help me but you didn't have anything else to offer for me except physical therapy that has no effect on my symptoms and she told me to try acupuncture which also had no effect did not help I tried it with several different acupuncture. So I am at a loss for where to go that's why I thought maybe in Europe since they do less fusion that I have no clue as to where to go and what country they would speak English. I was in Spain and had a very rude wake up call that hardly anyone wanted to speak English to me and it was very difficult.

@gently
None of the surgeons I have spoken with have offered artificial disc replacement. They only offer fusion. Today I saw the head of surgery at Mount Sinai in New York and he said he would do a posterior incision only. I don't know if that would include any kind of artificial disc that I can ask him. The other thing that bothers me is that when I asked him about any complications in any of his past surgeries he said he only had one infection years ago and no other complications. I find that hard to believe and I couldn't think of anything to say to that. He's a very gentle, likable man with excellent credentials but do you think I should keep asking him are you sure you've never had any complications at all in any of your fusions?

@annie1 Believe the experts. My expert fixes other doctor's replacement disk problems and they are very serious with potential paralysis. During the surgery, he is obligated to do a fusion anyway.

@gilkesl
Ok so who is your Dr and you are saying that replacement disc is not very safe?

@htolan
Can you please resend me the name of the surgeon? I think you have to send it privately to me on the Mayo connect. Thank you so much

@annie1 how do I send it privately?

Actually I found the old post and you sent me his name. Tyler is the first name. So you have osteoporosis or had it at the time of your fusion? And everything worked out okay? In terms of sending things privately I figured it out a while ago but right now I'm just getting up I'll try to coach you through it another time. Thanks

Surgeon speak” mostly just refers to which way they access your spine. ALIF is from the front, XLIF from the side, and TLIF from the back. Since you mentioned osteoporosis, that part really stood out to me. I dealt with something similar and had a consult with Dr. Siddiqui in Houston.
He went through my scans in detail and explained why, with weaker bone, a front or side approach can sometimes work better because it allows for a larger cage and better load distribution.

What also helped a lot was the recovery guidance he gave me. He was very specific about what movements to avoid, how to pace activity, and what signs would actually matter versus normal healing pain. That guidance made my recovery feel more controlled and less scary, and helped me avoid pushing too hard too soon.

@marcoye939
Thank you. Did you then have surgery with him? I was assuming so. A couple of the surgeons I spoke to said they would do a posterior incision and that doesn't fit with what your surgeon told you about how it would be better to do the side incision for someone with osteoporosis. I'll have to ask them about that. I am having injections once a month for the osteoporosis of evenity which has increase my bone density already but it's still osteoporosis I think. I need to have another bone scan. I've been flying all over the country literally to talk to different surgeons and none of them have been as detailed as what you describe from the doctor in Houston which bothers me. Maybe I should see him but that's adding another trip. Anyway I have an appointment with a specialist in Boston who works a lot with osteoporetic spine so I think he should be a good bet. But in the meantime I'm going to ask the other guys why they would do the posterior with my osteoporosis.