t10-l2 spinal fusion revision

Posted by mj8327 @mj8327, 1 day ago

I had a bad fall from a biking accident Oct 2024 had an unstable fracture at the t12 disc, t12 was also compressed. I had to have an emergency fusion from T10-L2. My neurosurgeon who performed the surgery was a traveling surgeon who left immediately after my fusion. I had follow on care from other surgeons who said that my hardware was in place fine with no issues however I had/have continuous chronic pain coming from T12 and emanating out. The surgeons said that everything was fine with the hardware so they referred me to PT/pain management. In Sept 25 I finally go into another surgeon who said all the hardware was in place. I asked him about the fusion itself and he said none existed. I was confused because I thought the discs had to be fused together as well. I went back my original surgeon and had to ask and pry and they finally said I had a non union. I had gone the entire year and not once did they ever mention I had this issue within 3-4 visits in 2025. So basically, only the hardware is hold my spine up which is really bad from what I'm reading online and is most likely the source of my pain. I am furious and don't know what to do next. They cleared me for full exercise and everything so I'm been doing things I shouldn't have with non union fusion for a full year. The surgeon in my last visit just told me to go get injections and said maybe he could reattempt a fusion but advised pt and injections first. Has anyone else had this experience? What did you do and did you have success with a revision?

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I didn’t have hardware in place, my fusion was in 1988 before it existed. I was in a halo vest. When the nonunion was discovered, i was hospitalized and operated on again.

But everyone’s situation is different. Its inexcusable that you were not informed but its possible the surgeon is not wrong. I would suggest another opinion from a surgeon specializing in complicated surgery . Perhaps a regional medical center or university hospital.

I agree it’s puzzling. I wish you all the best and hope you find the correct answer

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I've had 2 spinal fusion procedures done on my neck, at the C5-C6 level, and then at C7-T1. Both procedures involved using a piece of donor bone from a cadaver to fill the space, and they've both healed perfectly. Why in the world didn't they do the same when you had your surgery? This doesn't make ant sense to me, have you asked him flat out why this wasn't done?

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Yeah, I definitely didn’t have that. They did use something called bmp that is supposed to promote bone growth but that caused inflammation and other complications. Honestly I stopped asking what they did completely because every step of the way they’ve dropped the ball, and later I found out this hospital was the worst possible one I could go to, so I got unlucky. Right now I’m just looking for someone who will take this seriously. That option is good to know though, so thank you for passing it along.

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