Any ortho guys here?

[Spinsistah]

I want to throw something out that isn't really bike related although it effects how many of us ride. Bad backs seem to be as common as the cold these days.

Are there any orthopaedic or neuro guys on the forum? I have been around the block with a couple of bad disks in my lumbar area. I have degenerative disk disease and L4-5 is the problem child. I went through all the less invasive procedures - epidurals - I see a chiropractor which helps to some degree. I was scheduled for fusion surgery in June and decided to forego it to wait for disk replacement which was approved by the FDA last fall.

After some research and several docs in Cincinnati, I found a Dr. Richard Holt in Louisville that has been performing this procedure while it was still in the clinical stages prior to FDA approval. They can do it as soon as they find a hospital that will let them operate (insurance company is only paying 10% of billed charges). The docs in Cincinnati cannot seem to get the procedure approved and one flat out told me that insurance will not pay him enough to make it worth his while.

From what I gather, disk replacement is superior to fusion in many ways, less invasive, allows continued flexibility, doesn't stress the disks above and below the replaced disk, much faster recovery - 6 weeks verses 6 months.

Comments?

[wasfast]

I went through this entire process, up to surgery for my wife. We talked with a doctor in Eugene, Oregon that is one of the test sites for Replacement Disc. As an engineer, I consider replacement disc far superior to fusion, especially if you are younger as you'll have a good many potential years to live with the result.

Replacement disc surgery has been done in Europe for many years. I feel very comfortable with the material set and procedure.

The surgeon was insistent on her having a discography to verify the MRI's. That turned out to be a complete waste of time in my opinion. The desire of the test is to apply a load pneumatically to the disc and measure the pressure rating. In the end, it was a emperical test, with the test surgeon asking her to rate the pain at a given pressure. His results, really her impressions, were that there were 3 bad discs and they refused to operate, even to replace only 2.

On top of that, even if she was a candidate, patients have to be randomized for the purposes of the study with 50% doing fusion and 50% replacement disc. We had a 50% chance of getting the surgery we strongly desired.

This was in March of 2004, prior to FDA approval. We haven't revisited the situation since approval but may in the near future. She's certainly not getting any better and she's only 51 years old.

[Spinsistah]

I'm 48. I had a diskogram too - it has to be, by far, the worst test I've ever experienced. I left nail imprints in the pad on the table they had me on - they told me I was "tough"; the guy they had tested earlier cried. They tested three disks, one not too bad, another rather bad, but the third was the killer.

The group in Louisville aren't conducting experimental procedures any longer since FDA approval, but can get most insurance companies to pay for the procedure. The woman I talked with told me that she even got one company to pay for a double or two tier disk replacement.

I think you ought to explore other possibilities because if they're doing dual disk replacement in Louisville, KY, they are no doubt doing them on the West Coast.

[BarryG]

There's an artificial disk forum at:

http://www.adrsupport.org/private-cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi

[Spinsistah]

Thank you so much! :)