removal of harrington rods

[tj0919]

my wife has had harrington rods in for about 30 years  they are starting to pull away from her spine the doctor saya they have to come out . she is in pain most all the time.how safe is it .she is 45 years old.

[seano]

My hardware was in for about2 years. I'm not surewhat type it actually was! It had a bunch of screws, somerods, and a cage "thingy". I have had 9 lower back surgeries (laminectomies, scar tissue removal, membrane installed, fusions), and my surgeon stated that taking the hardware out was the easiest of all my procedures to date. A risk is always present with any surgery. In my case the benefits outweighed the risks involved. I would get a second opinion regarding your hardware. If it's loose, chances are removing it will help you tremendously, it certainly did for me. I now scar tissue did form where the hardware was, but the leg pain it created was almost eliminated entirely with the removal of everyting. My bone fortheusions was taken frommy vertebra (not the hip). The only ting left inside me is a "bone growth" stimulator, which helps the fusion to actually "take". Sorry it took so long to reply, I havn't been online in a while. Contact me with any more questions if you would like. I'm a 41 year old male. I still have severe low back pain (some occaisional nasty leg pain, but nothing like it used to be!), I'm also disabled (SSDI), and am on high doses of narcotics - Mscontin 200 mg. 3x daily, and Oxycodone 15 mg. 4x daily.

[tj0919]

I have a couple more questions I would like to ask if you dont mind. How long were your rods in, what kind were they and did you have the hook at the top with a bone from the bone bank inside. Iam his wife and since the Rods have shifted to some degree it has caused disk deneration, deteration. I have had several Dr.s advise and they all have told me the same thing, they have been in since I was 12, Iam 45 now. They all had nothing good at all to say about the procedure, nothing incouraging enough for me to even consider. They talked about things like losing one of my extremities, or they opening my back up and not being able to touch them, thus being the only thing left to do is to close it back up, and then I would have addition scar tissue to deal with. You had no difficulties that I have mentioned? I appreciate any information you can give me, I know I will have to have the surgery, Iam just not sure that Iam ready for the issues they discussed with me. thanks for your time.

[seano]

I had all of my hardware removed about a year ago. I stayed in the hospital overnight. My surgeon told me removing the hardware is a piece of cake. I still had pain from the actual surgery for a few days, but that's normal. It did help with my pain, as some of the hardware was loose and causing problems. I'm 41 years old (male).