Cervical stenosis - Spinal Cord Disorders Message Board

Oldsailor · 12-12-2004, 08:22 AM

Hi,

My husband just had an MRI to determine how advanced his stenosis is and I've been doing some research on surgical procedures. Does anyone know anything about the Institute for Minimally Invasive Surgery and the no-fusion technique?
What other options besides fusion should we look for if he needs surgery? He has had a bit of therapy at the chiropractor but has had significant increase in pain and loss of strength in just two weeks. Waiting for other therapies to work has him afraid of long-term nerve damage since it's gotten so bad so quick.

Any opinion/ideas?

flyonthewall · 12-12-2004, 11:25 AM

Get him to a spine specialist, ortho or neuro with a fellowship. They are the experts!

Oldsailor · 12-12-2004, 11:30 AM

Thanks, We've already been referred to a good neurosurgeon and will probably be calling him after the Dr. appt tomorrow. Guess he should be able to give us all the options, but I do worry about not getting the full range of possibilities from just one surgeon. If we're not satisfied we'll look around for a second opinion.

feelbad · 12-13-2004, 06:57 AM

Always get a second opinion.It's good to cover all your bases you know?before i had my last surgery to remove a glob of blood vessels from the inside of my spinal cord, I actually had a second and a third opinion just to make sure I was getting the right info before I consented to a surgery that was going to cause some already known nerve damage because of it's potistion inside the cord.Just a thought here but did your increased pain start after you started seeing the chropractor?if so, i would not be seeing him again anytime soon.Depending on what the problem with your spine actually is, a chiro can be either very helpful or cause some major damage.Better safe than sorry.who knows just what he already did in there that caused your pain to sudenly increase.Marcia

rob_zzz · 12-13-2004, 03:04 PM

Oldsailor,

I agree with the comment about the chiropractor - you need to be careful depending on the nature/cause of the stenosis and also the symptoms. If there is a disc causing cord compression then there is a risk of causing further damage with manipulation.

What is the cause of the stenosis - herniated disc(s)?, overall narrowing of canal combined with herniated discs, bony osteophytes, poor lordosis or kyphosis etc.? This information would need to be taken into account in order to determine the best surgical option. For example, as I understand it a single herniated disc in a neck with a reasonably wide canal and fair lordosis would be a prime candidate for ACDF, but an overall narrowing of the canal over several levels might be better treated with a posterior operation to widen the canal, while there might be other things that are better treated with a minimally invasive option. (and I don't know the answers to which is best for which).

But getting to know the particularly characteristics of your husbands neck and problems will help when looking at surgical options.