How do new fusions solidify when they are always moving?

[MDE]

Katie be glad you didnt have more hardware. Alot of times they say th.e hardware can cause major problems. They are working on hardware that after like a year or 2 it dissolves somehow in the body, thus enough time to hold it in place for fusion but eventually going away.

Sportsnut,

I know you're trying to help and I think that's very good of you, however spreading information that isn't correct or is mostly based on a small sample size is, in my opinion, detrimental to the overall community. You seem to grab on to bits and pieces of stories and facts and then speak of them as if they are well accepted facts, which I believe may provide people who don't look at the clinical research a skewed perception of the risks and benefits of various procedures.

That said, there have been severe complications with pedicle screws. There have also been severe complications without pedicle screws. Medicine, especially when related to medical devices or pharmacology, needs to be based on studies. These studies need to be done on the things that matter (Patients quality of life, satisfaction, complications, pain etc) and with a high degree of scientific control to ensure that the date gleaned from the study is both relevant and significant.

When these studies have been conducted specifically regarding interbody fusion versus interbody fusion with posterior stabilization, significant decreases in overall complication rates and increase in surgery "success" rates were found. There are quite a few papers out there stating these, which is why a majority of surgeries are done with posterior instrumentation. That said, there are a variety of reasons why a surgeon may feel that the additional potential risk does not outweigh the additional costs and risks on a patient by patient basis.

The resorbable hardware has been something that has been tried repeatedly with varied success. Some actually prove to have higher complication rates than the graft by itself. Not all of them have these issues, but there is a reason why they have not become very mainstream.

[ajj1001]

So to summarize, interbodies do limit almost all motion between the vertebrae by themselves. You are correct in assuming that if the to vertebrae are moving in relation to each other, there is a much lower chance of a fusion occurring across the joint.

The movement I have from the charite that is still there is what my surgeon thinks is preventing fusion. Thats why he is going to put in some more "bombproof" instrumentation, he did say the name of it but I can't recall (the shock of agreeing to a third spine surgery caused amnesia).

[Greg]

The movement I have from the charite that is still there is what my surgeon thinks is preventing fusion. Thats why he is going to put in some more "bombproof" instrumentation, he did say the name of it but I can't recall (the shock of agreeing to a third spine surgery caused amnesia).

...."bombproof".... I like it! Do you have an idea of when this might happen?

[ajj1001]

...."bombproof".... I like it! Do you have an idea of when this might happen?

i should get about three weeks notice of the op, i will have to go in again and repeat the pre op to check I am still in good condition to operate on. Current expectations are December or January (I'll probably call in November to check if that is still correct if I've heard nothing by then).

I wish I could remember the name of the stuff he is going to use as I would have gone away and read up on it, I think it began with an 's'.

[Carmen]

Hi,
We will see what happens to mine. I did have the hardware for both the XLIF and the PLIF. My surgery was at the end of June. I am now in recovery. I am tryiing to figure out when I can drive. I am 8 wks post op. I am off all pain meds except for over the counter. (Aleve) So far so good but I did wake up at 2:am and took another Aleve. I did go back to sleep and now the doctor is weaning me off of my brace. I did not know they did that but I hate it so much I wll do anything to not have to wear it any more. It was a tough surgery, the PlIF. The miniminally in vasive was a piece of cake. That was only my first one. The second one I have a 12 cent. scar. That was the pits. I did not want to wake up after that one. But you get through it some how or another.

CL-Right now I am trying to fix a battery that is just a problem with my model. It is givnig me a problem to share files. I was busy wotking on it for the past two days. It may be okay now. I will tryi it again. Carmen

[Katie]

Carmen, I am thrilled for you! And yes, I'll be interested in seeing how your surgery compares with the difference in hardware.

I'm glad the XLIF worked so well for you too. Wish all mine had been that 'style'

MDE, that explanation was terrific. And the rotation is the motion that bothers me the most.