Posts Tagged ‘anterior’
Amazing Back Surgery Success Story – Herniated Discs
Louie has an extremely dangerous job dealing with all aspects of port/dock operations. In June of 2001, he turned his head and neck very quickly and experienced sudden and extreme pain in his neck and in both arms. He was rushed to the hospital where he was diagnosed with extreme herniation of his cervical discs. The disc was protruding into the spinal cord 9mm; to put this in perspective, the diameter of your cervical spinal cord is approximately 10mm. The hospital put him in traction for 9 days with a morphine pump for the excruciating pain. Louie said he even considered taking his own life at times as the pain was so unbearable.
Many doctors told him that he would likely end up quadriplegic or a paraplegic. Louie did not like these prognoses and continued searching for a doctor he could believe in. He endured months of conservative care with injections and medications without relief before he found Dr. Hamada. Dr. Hamada told Louie that once we relieve the pressure off the spine the pain would go away. He said the surgery would be done through an anterior (front) approach, rather than disrupting many muscles and ligaments by accessing the discs from the poster (back). Louie said The message that he conveyed to me was one of certainty, that he could and would fix me. Louie decided to believe in Dr. Hamada. Louie underwent an anterior cervical discectomy at C6-7 with instrumented fusion and bone graft and after surgery, he awoke from the anesthesia with his family friends all around and he realized that his pain was gone and he could move his legs and arms and at that point, Louie said, I cried tears of joy – he was so thankful he knew he would be fine. He walked to his car after 3 days in the hospital and eventually went back to work and his life.
Learn more at: www.HamadaMD.com
Duration : 0:8:57
MRI Showed a Very Large Cervical Disc Herniation, Anterior Discectomy + Fusion Helped This Patient
Anne started experiencing pain shooting down her neck to her left shoulder and arm. Eventually the pain prevented her from walking her dogs which kept her in shape, she had trouble sleeping, and was loosing the function of her left arm.
Anne went to her primary care physician which recommended she get an MRI of her neck. The MRI demonstrated a very large C5-6 herniated disc. Her physician referred her to a specialist: Dr. Hamada. Dr. Hamada showed Anne exactly where her pain was coming from and explained how they were going to fix the problem. Anne was a little uneasy about how Dr. Hamada was going to use an anterior approach (front of the neck) but Dr. Hamada explained that This procedure is done through a small incision in the front of the neck resulting in minimal trauma to the neck tissues. This approach allows for minimal spinal nerve or cord traction and thus a quicker recovery period. Often a spinal fusion is done by placing a small piece of cadaver bone in between the two vertebrae. Occasionally, if the surgery involves more than one disc level or there is significant spinal cord compression, the we may need to place a small plate on the anterior cervical vertebrae in order to give further spinal stability. Because bone fusion takes time to grow, you will need to be in a cervical collar or brace for several weeks to allow complete recovery.
Anne underwent a anterior cervical discectomy and instrumented (plate & screws) anterior fusion in April of 2005. Anne said, When I woke up, the pain was completely gone. Anne said she could do everything she wanted to do right after surgery as long as she wore a neck brace while her bones were fusing. Learn more at: www.HamadaMD.com
Duration : 0:9:58
