Even with advanced technology and the most qualified medical surgeons, spinal surgery can often be a complicated task. Though practitioners and patients hope for a 100% success rate every time, sometimes that isn’t always the case. However, if your original procedure doesn’t yield the results you or the doctor desire, revision surgery may be needed.
What Is Revision Spine Surgery?
Revision surgery is a procedure performed to correct issues or complications from the first spine surgery that did not work. There are various reasons behind needing revision surgery, perhaps the pain from your original condition never went away. Or it could be that the initial surgical treatment caused further complications, which require surgical intervention to correct.
Revision surgery is never recommended as a spur-of-the-moment undertaking. Instead, the surgeon conducts a thorough physical and notes all the initial surgical procedures you’ve previously had, new symptoms, reviews your pain history, and other factors which can impact surgical success.
Some doctors might also ask you to undergo some level of pre-surgical psychological evaluation before the procedure. This is to help you fully understand the risks and benefits of revision surgery. It also takes care of your mental and emotional well-being concerning surgery.
Reasons to Consider Revision
Several symptoms or concern could lead you and your doctor to consider undergoing revision surgery including:
- A new nerve-related issue, which might present as weakness, numbness, or even shooting pain
- Back, neck, and muscle spasms
- Broken or improperly operating spinal instrumentation which can cause damage to the nerves
- Formation of scar tissue impinging on your spinal nerves
- Nerves not adequately decompressing after surgery
- Spinal instability or a fusion that doesn’t heal as expected
- Suspected spinal infection
Generally, the primary goal of revision surgery is to ensure the decompression or stabilization of the spine that the initial surgery failed to do. Decompressing the cramped nerves helps to eliminate persistent nerve pain while stabilization seeks to limit any abnormal movement between the vertebrae. It is not uncommon for patients to seek revision surgery for both decompression and stabilization.
Benefits of Revision Spine Surgery
The success rates of revision are often high. One of the key benefits of revision surgery is that these procedures are often minimally invasive as they seek to correct problems from the first surgery and may not be as in-depth lessening the required downtime and possible shorter recovery period.
If you are experiencing symptoms mentioned above or feel as though you could benefit from an evaluation of your first surgery, you may be a candidate for revision surgery. Our team is here to help diagnose your problem and offer high-quality care and treatment so that you can receive immediate and long-lasting relief. For more information or to schedule a consultation, contact American Neurospine Institute, PLLC at (972)806-1188.
