[Donald Corenman, MD, DC]

#6492

C6-7 is “tight” but there is still a rind of CSF along the backside of the cord allowing some room. C4-5 has the disc herniation which compresses the front side of the cord but again, there is a small amount of CSF behind the cord again allowing some room. There is no obvious signal change within the cord but the images are not that crisp.

C5-6 and C7-T1 look relatively normal so surgery at those levels at this point looks to be unneeded.

I think as long as you do not participate in sports that would put your neck at risk, the risk you inherently have with this type of MRI is not high in the short term.

I have deleted your images from your email to allow for anonymity.

Dr. Corenman

PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS FORUM IS MEANT TO PROVIDE GENERAL INFORMATION ON SPINE ANATOMY, CONDITIONS AND TREATMENTS. TO GET AN ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS, YOU MUST VISIT A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL IN PERSON.
 
Donald Corenman, MD, DC is a highly-regarded spine surgeon, considered an expert in the area of neck and back pain. Trained as both a Medical Doctor and Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Corenman earned academic appointments as Clinical Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and his research on spine surgery and rehabilitation has resulted in the publication of multiple peer-reviewed articles and two books.

[whatthe2]

#6493

Thanks! We really appreciate it.

See you next month.

Rick

[whatthe2]

#7183

Hi Dr. Corenman,
I wanted to take a moment to update this thread in case it may be helpful to others and say a HUGE thank you to you and your team.

If you’ve got a neck injury, do yourself a favor and go see Dr. Corenman and his team. They truly are in a league of their own.

After meeting with Dr. Corenman and his PA, Eric, they were floored that anyone would even recommend a 4-level ACDF. They were fairly certain that the C6-C7 disc herniation was causing all of my pain symptoms, so they ordered a nerve root block (done at their clinic) along with a pain diary. The result was very positive in that it virtually eliminated all of my shoulder and arm symptoms that I had been suffering from since January. It should be noted that I did have other nerve root blocks done at another clinic, but the results were very mixed and the experience left me thinking it was a waste of time. Dr. Corenman ensured me that his team would properly administer the nerve root block at their facility. It was a very different (positive) experience with his team when they performed the nerve root block and the results verified they knew what they were doing.

They also re-evaluated the C4-C5 disc and determined that there was still sufficient spinal fluid on the back side of the cord so their recommendation was not to do anything with this level at this point.

I had my surgery last Friday (10/12/12) and all went extremely well. This was my first surgery so I don’t have anything to compare it to, but I was thrilled with the level of care I received from everyone throughout the entire process. The time spent by Dr. Corenman and his team in helping my wife and I understand and feel comfortable with the entire process was far more involved than the other six surgeons combined in Denver that we saw before being lucky enough to run across the Steadman Clinic.

I can already tell that my shoulder and arm symptoms are better. I still have a bit of pain in my neck, throat and hip, but all of these were expected, and they have been getting better each day. In fact, today my pain is very minimal and I’m moving about almost better than before surgery. If I had it to do over again, I would do it in a second.

Given that I have some additional issues that may need addressing in the future, I won’t think twice about going back to see Dr. Corenman. For those that have read his forum, you already know that he is a remarkable person who really wants to help people by posting responses to questions at night, on weekends and holidays. I can vouch for the fact that he is equally caring and genuinely a great guy face to face as well. It’s no wonder that people fly in from all over the world for the care of his team and the other Surgeons at the Steadman Clinic. Again, you have to visit this place to see how special it really is.

If anyone has questions, don’t hesitate to ask. Or, if Dr. Corenman wishes to add anything, please feel free.

Thanks again, you have changed our lives and have saved me from what could have been a terrible surgery decision that was recommended by someone else.

Rick and Karie

[Donald Corenman, MD, DC]

#7188

Thanks for the comments. The level of service you experienced is what should be expected when you visit a physician or hospital.

Dr. Corenman

PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS FORUM IS MEANT TO PROVIDE GENERAL INFORMATION ON SPINE ANATOMY, CONDITIONS AND TREATMENTS. TO GET AN ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS, YOU MUST VISIT A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL IN PERSON.
 
Donald Corenman, MD, DC is a highly-regarded spine surgeon, considered an expert in the area of neck and back pain. Trained as both a Medical Doctor and Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Corenman earned academic appointments as Clinical Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and his research on spine surgery and rehabilitation has resulted in the publication of multiple peer-reviewed articles and two books.

[cary8935]

#7667

I am a 44 year old female. I went to see an orthopedic surgeon the first week of October 2012. C2-C6 are degenerated. He said it isn’t a question as “if” I need surgery, the question is “when”. The discs are bruising my spine. Very little cfs in this area. Surgery was scheduled for Dec. 20, 2012; ran into some issues and had to postpone. He diagnosed me w/ Klippel-Feil Syndrome. I already knew I have a horseshoe kidney. Was diagnosed w/ Spina Bifida @ age 30. Scoliosis @ age 19. I’m going to ask this surgeon to confirm those diagnosis’ next appt. I have also been diagnosed w/ hydrocephalus. Saw a neurologist. He said I was born that way, it isn’t getting worse and said I was fine. My surgeon thinks the 4 level acdf is my only option. I wish I could post my xrays/mris on here.
Cary

[whatthe2]

#9051

Hi Dr. Corenman,
Former patient of yours here. I have healed quite well from the surgery (C6-C7 ACDF) and the symptoms we were looking to correct have been largely fixed. However, I am having additional problems with my neck and am unsure what the logical next step should be.

The main symptoms we were addressing in the surgery were pain across the right shoulder blade and down the right arm. The pain in the shoulder blade is gone, and the majority of the pain in my right arm is gone. I do continue to have slight pain and numbness in my right arm, but it is in a different location than the pain prior to surgery. The pain in the arm prior to surgery was more on the back side of the arm and now it is on the top of the arm.

My current symptoms are as follows. Pain and numbness in the neck (seems to originate right about where the neck meets the shoulders). The pain is more prominent on the right side of the neck, but I also notice it midline and on the left side at different times. The pain in the area is sometimes aching and other times stabbing. I also have pain and numbness that radiates slightly across the top of my right shoulder and down the top of the right arm all the way down the forearm. The pain and numbness at times also radiates up the neck to the base of the skull and down the back to below my shoulder blades. I also notice some numbness that seems to wrap around my chest, although I don’t have any pain in that area.

In my follow up appointments with Eric, he said that the x-rays showed that it appeared the bone had fused and all looked good. So I’m not sure if I am still feeling some pain from the initial issues we were dealing with and still recovering from that surgery or if I am feeling symptoms from another problem. There were some additional areas of concern in the original MRI. I also had an MRI performed at VVMC, but I’m not sure how the results looked compared to the ones posted in my original post in this thread.

It should also be noted that I did have some pain in numbness in my neck pre-surgery, but it was quite a bit less than the pain in the shoulder blade, so I’m wondering if it masked a lot of the pain and numbness in the neck that I now notice.
Let me know if you think another office visit is the best place to start, or if another MRI or x-ray is warranted. I’m happy to call in and provide you identifying information so that you can pull up my file if needed.

Thanks.

Rick

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