It’s no secret that the spine is one of the most complicated and stressed parts of your body. It has to support your weight, keep your organs in place, and protect your nerves—which means it needs to be strong, flexible, and able to handle a lot of stress.
But sometimes, that doesn’t happen. Sometimes conditions like scoliosis or spondylolisthesis cause misalignment in the spine, creating pressure points and nerve compression that can lead to pain and discomfort. And sometimes, a traumatic injury or an accident can cause lasting damage to the spine requiring help from a spine surgeon in Dana Point, CA.
When these things happen, one option for treatment is spine revision surgery performed by a spine . But what exactly is this procedure? And who needs it?
Understanding What Is Revision Spinal Surgery
Revision spine surgery is often the last resort for patients who have been suffering from chronic back pain for a long time or who have had previous surgeries that failed to produce the desired results. If you are considering revision spinal surgery, it’s important to understand what it is and who might need it.
In a nutshell, revision spinal surgery is when a surgeon corrects a previous operation that had gone bad.
In order for revision spinal surgery to be performed, the patient must have had an original surgery that has failed and left them with issues such as chronic pain, numbness or weakness in their limbs, or difficulty walking. This is different from a patient who has never had back surgery and is having it now because they have a new problem with their spine.
The surgeon will look at the first surgery that was performed on the patient’s back and decide whether or not it was done correctly. If there are issues with the previous procedure, then they can be corrected during the revision process. The goal of this type of surgery is to correct any problems caused by an initial procedure so that the patient can regain full use of their body again.
Who Needs Revision Spinal Surgery?
Patients might require revision spinal surgery for many reasons.
This can happen even if the first surgery was done correctly.
But regardless of the cause, if your doctor recommends revision spinal surgery for you, it’s important to ask about the procedure and what it entails.
Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery
When you’re considering spine surgery, you’ll need to consider the options available to you. Anterior and posterior spinal fusion are two of the most common types of spinal repair procedures, but they’re not necessarily right for everybody.
Anterior fusion involves fusing together the vertebrae in your back using a bone graft from another part of your body or from donated bone from another person. This is typically done with rods and screws that help hold the vertebrae in place during healing.
Posterior fusion can be done using several different methods depending on what part of your spine needs to be repaired. One method used by spine surgeons in Dana Point, CA involves using metal plates and screws placed between two vertebrae; another involves removing one or more vertebrae and replacing them with an artificial device called an interbody cage; yet another involves removing one or more vertebrae and replacing them with an artificial device called a pedicle screw system (PSS).