failed fusion question

[Skyfoxglitter]

I have a question I'm not sure if anyone can help but I didn't know wher else to post....I had lumbar fusion surgery January 2009 I was fused from L4 L5 S1...My surgeon stated that it should take around 12-14 months for full fusion to take place, I have been going every 3 months for x-rays to determine wether it's permantly fused, my last appt was last Tuesday where he informed me that it is still not fully fused and it has been 19 months....He is considering this a failed fusion and I have an appt on October 8th to go over my options... I am more than scared to death at the thought of a revision surgery being that the first one was extremely painful, hard to recover from and I had to be off work for 4 months...Has anyone else been through anything similar to this and what did you do? Is there any other options besides revision of the fusion? I appreciate any feedback I recieve and thanks for taking the time to read and respond

[Skyfoxglitter]

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my post...And to answer a couple of your questions I have been having x-rays every 3 months since the surgery to check progress of the fusion and he was always optamistic there would gradually be change, however he also explained that in some cases the fusion does take a little longer in some patients verses others thus explaining why he was patient in deciding on wether or not to consider this an actual faied fusion..

On that note there has been evidence of bone growth on the outer portion of the fusion but for some reason the inner portion is just not becoming solid... I am currently in pain management and have done the epidural as well as the faucet joint injections, with little to no success of pain relief... I am in constant pain and have been since the fusion some days worse than others and for the most part I am able to tolerate it enough to at least keep up at my full time job as a LPN which requires me to be on my feet all day, this of course is amazing considering the amount of pain I live with.

I am on some medications for pain but am hesitant to take them unless I really need them for fears of dependency on false pain relief but am also intelligent enough to know when to take them and not let my pain get to a level that it is not able to be controlled. Thank you for all the information you gave I will certainly do some research and look into some of the options you gave..So again Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me

[Kalvin]

I can understand your fear, I had a lumbar fusion several years ago and I couldn't imagine having to go through that again. The recovery was pretty awful too.

I sympathize, I really do. Are you just having the problem at 1 level, why has it taken him so long to consider it failed? Was there any evidence of bone growth at all, there should have been something at 3-5 months.

Probably the most important factor in all this, which you failed to mention, is how do you feel. Are you in as much pain as before surgery, because some people have failed fusions, and don't have any pain at all and visa versa. My neck fused at 3 months and I haven't had a day without pain since before surgery, so fusions don't correlate with pain control. However, they are obviously more stable.

There's a few options, most of which you probably won't like.
The 1st would be Pain Management, for some people its adequate, for others it not.
There's been some success using Electrical Stimulation in Failed Spinal Fusion's. This would require a great deal of research on your part and you'd have to find someone that does it.
The use of low-energy, time-varying magnetic fields (commonly referred to as pulsed electromagnetic fields or PEMF. There's been some very successful clinicals on this for failed fusions, and some of the patients that have had this treatment had surgery 40-44 months prior. Again, with the research and finding someone that does it.
And lastly, a friend was telling me about a using a orthopedist bone metabolism specialist. Their experts on bones and healing and they use certain drugs to promote bone growth, they have had some success with failed fusions. Just do a search on the net for Orthopedist Bone Metabolism Specialist, maybe you can find one in your area.

I'm curious what your Doctor going to tell you, stop by and let us know, and whatever you decide, you certainly don't have to rush.


Take Care