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Neurology (Expert Forum)
Post Fusion Surgery
This forum is for questions and support regarding neurology issues such as: Alzheimer's Disease, ALS, Autism, Brain Cancer, Cerebral Palsy, Chronic Pain, Epilepsy, Fibromyalgia, Headaches, MS, Neuralgia, Neuropathy, Parkinson's Disease, RSD, Sleep Disorders, Stroke, Traumatic Brain Injury
Post Fusion Surgery
by Tassia, Mar 04, 2003 12:00AM
I'm a 40 year women, in very good health and was in fairly good shape. Suffered pack pain for 4 years and was told that it was my lower back, until I was sent to a neurologists because of my walking starting to wable, and a mri was done on the upper spine and the result was 5 badly hernated disc was seen on the mri. Was then sent to a surgean, where he did further tests and found a mass on between my T7/8. With further test found that the mass was very rare, apparently only 4 cases have been reported in Canada. I was the fifth. I was told i had no choise but to have surgery to remove the mass. The mass was calsiphied with sutogout (not sure on the spelling), in side that had opened and started to leak into my system, slicing my nerves. I went under surgery on Nov 28th, not really being told much. I was given the assumption that i would be back to work 6-8 weeks. Well its been 3months now, and really having a hard time. They apparently fused t5-10, worse then what they thought, be it that they were only going to fuse 2 discs. I decided to use Coral for the bone crafing instead of my own. Now my question, is there anybody out there that can relate to my surgery. Who can give me some insite as to what to expect. Nobody really seems to know much. Get little information from surgean, phsyio therapists which i just started now, seems not able to answer my concerns either. Is this so rare?...Please if there is anybody out there that i talk to please help. I have gone from being very fit and always on the go women to feeling helpless. I hate it.
Doctor's Answer
by CCF-Neuro-M.D.-JT, Mar 05, 2003 12:00AM
First of all, I'm not quite sure if you meant that the pseudogout was the mass or there was something in addition to the pseudogout, so I'll assume that it's just pseudogout.
Pseudogout of the spine is an uncommon disorder that is characterized by deposition of calcium crystals (calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystals CPPD) that can push on the spinal cord or nerves, producing symptoms of pain, weakness, and sensory loss depending on exactly where it is and what it's pushing on. It sounds like it was quite an extensive surgery and depending on exactly what went on and if there were any complications, recovery may be prolonged. In general some patients do feel better right away after spine surgery, while others take weeks to months to get back to where they were before the symptoms began, while others have chronic pain at or around the site of surgery. As your disorder is rare, there's not much literature out there regarding prognosis and outcome. I did find one case of a patient with pseudogout in the lumbar region who did well after surgery and was pain free almost immediately, but she certainly did not have the extensive surgery that you did. What you can do in addition to seeing the physiotherapist is to start a pain management program which may help you deal with the symptoms. Also, if things get worse or you continue to plateau, followup closely with your surgeons and let them about the ongoing symptoms. You may need followup imaging to make sure everything is ok back there. Give it another month or two with physical therapy and pain management and see how things go. Good luck.
Pseudogout of the spine is an uncommon disorder that is characterized by deposition of calcium crystals (calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystals CPPD) that can push on the spinal cord or nerves, producing symptoms of pain, weakness, and sensory loss depending on exactly where it is and what it's pushing on. It sounds like it was quite an extensive surgery and depending on exactly what went on and if there were any complications, recovery may be prolonged. In general some patients do feel better right away after spine surgery, while others take weeks to months to get back to where they were before the symptoms began, while others have chronic pain at or around the site of surgery. As your disorder is rare, there's not much literature out there regarding prognosis and outcome. I did find one case of a patient with pseudogout in the lumbar region who did well after surgery and was pain free almost immediately, but she certainly did not have the extensive surgery that you did. What you can do in addition to seeing the physiotherapist is to start a pain management program which may help you deal with the symptoms. Also, if things get worse or you continue to plateau, followup closely with your surgeons and let them about the ongoing symptoms. You may need followup imaging to make sure everything is ok back there. Give it another month or two with physical therapy and pain management and see how things go. Good luck.
Anyone who has experienced this and know of anything I can do to relieve this pain, please respond.
Thanks and God bless