i didnt ask my doc yet if he will use bone from my hip or if he will use bone graft. is bone graft used mostly now a days or is it the surgeons own personal prefference??? is bone graft just as good as your bodies bone??? i know ive heard that people have pain in there hip for years after there surgery, id rather have the bone graft if it is in fact the same and just as good. if my natural bone is better and will make me heal better ill take that i dont want to skimp out on myself. hope to here from you soon. thanks :)

I'll see if I can answer two of your posts. First, it is a good question about the graft material. Bone graft may be your bone, but the newer surgery procedures of the last 3 years that spine specialist do, does not require taking a graft from your hip nor using donor bone. Taking bone from my hip was done with my first surgery, prior to BMP being approved and was a posterior approach. The differences are that BMP mixed with your own ground bone is nearly 100% successful for fusion and is actually stronger than just your own bone, plus it fuses in about 5 months or sometimes less, where just your bone without BMP can take from 1 to 2 years to become really solid.

Also, if your bone is grafted from your hip, that part of the surgery to your hip and the recovery was far worse than the back surgery itself, when I had a three level fusion. When my back was broken after the first fusion, BMP was approved but because of problems encountered back then with BMP seeping into unwanted areas and encasing nerves, my spine specialist did that surgery anteriorly to prevent that from happening, not only because of the approach, but a different type cage was used for anterior approach. That required a second surgeon be involved to move the intestines out of the way. That part scared me as I had known of individuals intestines getting twisted and requiring another emergency surgery to save their life, but all went great for me. Admittedly I did bring up my concerns when I met with the general surgeon who would be doing that part. My spine specialist kept to his expertise and had a general surgeon move the intestines and then put them back into place. The recovery from the anterior approach was easier for me than my first fusion surgery, but then I also was not dealing with the graft being taken from my hip so cannot say for sure that one approach is easier than another.

With BMP being used, the spine specialist was able to harvest enough bone to crush and mix with the BMP from the laminectomy that is standard with a fusion, so that made things a lot easeir. Since then, with my other two fusions, (another 3 level plus my 10 level fusion one year ago) posterior approach was used as my surgeon was using a scope to place the BMP soaked sponges, to protect other areas. Even with 10 levels, my fusion was solid at 5 months, but I was kept off of arthritis NSAIDS for a total of 7 months.

You probably aren't on arthritis meds, but if so and BMP is used, you must stay off those meds until the fusion is complete. NSAIDS can keep BMP from solidifying. Most failures of BMP fusions you hear about, you will learn that either the surgeon did not tell the patient to stay off their NSAIDS or you may learn that their fusion was done with allograph or donor bone. In reading the clinical trials, even though the failure rate was only about 2 percent, most of those were recorded as being from allograph or donor bone. It is a fact that the more foreign materials we introduce to our bodies and yes even donor bone is a foreign material to our bodies, there is an increased chance that things will not work out. The BMP, cages, rods and screws are also foreign. Luckily, my own bone has been used in all my surgeries.

Some doctors do have a preference of allograph or donor bone versus harvesting bone from the patient. That's something you might want to discuss with your surgeon, along with whether they use the scopes to place BMP. If they do not, perhaps the anterior approach might be considered a lesser risk for future problems.

Another thing you may wish to speak with them about if you have any arthritic pain is if they recommend glucosamine/chrondrotin which you get over the counter. I began taking the brand name triple strength of it based on my spine specialists recommendation, when I could not take my arthritis meds. It takes time to kick in, but has worked wonderfully for me. So well in fact, that I asked my mother's primary and heart doctors about her being able to take it, because she needs total knee replacements, but is too ill to withstand the surgery. That has really helped reduce her pain and the need for steroid injections, but I don't recommend taking things like that without speaking with your doctor first.

Best wishes for a totally successful surgery and recovery.

It's pretty much the surgeon's preference and what he's used to. I had surgery 8 weeks ago, my surgeon used a custom femoral ring allograft, and bone from my spine.

My husband had a fusion in his neck and they used a donor bone. I just had l5 s1 w/hardware and they used a piece of my hip bone. I am now 3 weeks post and I can already feel the pain in my hip.

Judy

I had both, Cadaver and a my hip grafted. I didn't have ANY problems with my hip graft. My cadaver bone from my first fusion didn't take . No I dont smoke either . Said sometimes they dont take ??? I wouldn't worry about where it comes from. Just get healed my friend .

My daughter is 16 and originally her surgeon was going to take the bone from her hip. During surgery he changed and the two surgeons decided to use donor bone mixed with her own bone from the laminectomy. She showed a little fusing at six weeks post op. We go again at eight months and hope to hear she's fused. cas

the only thing im worried abot with the bone graft is that i here alot of people say that they still have severe hip pain from where they took the bone from months even years after procedure, i want to heal and be fixed up but i also want to get as much back of myself that i can. i might not be 100% but im going to try and get close....

hopenj77,
I heard that to. people suffer pain from graft taken from hip. But I was in serious pain . I was willing to chance it . But I never even knew what leg the graft was taken from. The only pain I have now is burning and tingling and numbness in my right thigh. But it only bother's me at night. I can do almost anything again. I am almost 100% but I dont think I will ever be 100 % Good luck .