Failed Back Surgery

Tagged: back, fail, minimally invasive spine surgery, surgery

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

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sim8899
Participant

April 5, 2015 at 1:33 pm

Post count: 2

#18501

Hey Dr. Corenman, I watched your L5-S1 Fusion video right before my surgery. I had two buldged disc in my spine, my L4-L5, and L5-S1. After many trips to my pain specialist, and many failed epidurals, I had surgery on December 31st, 2013, making me the youngest person in Louisiana to have this surgery at the age of 25. I was shocked as I no longer had sciatic pain anymore, and I was released the next day. After spending a couple months at home to heal, I noticed I started getting small pains. I brought this up to my surgeon when I went to get the stiches removed. He told me it was normal and it will take a few more months. The surgery was a minimal invasive disc fusion, but my disc didn’t fuse. Now it’s been over a year and 4 months, and I’m almost unable to move. The pain gets worse everyday, and sometimes I can’t even get up from a lying down position. My sciatic nerve is being pinched on both sides now, and also the pain shoots up my spine to right under both of my shoulder blades. I have been to three emergency rooms, and the X-Ray shows the rods and screws are fine, but no one has ordered an MRI. They refilled my Robaxin, and Neurotin, but weary about giving pain meds. I was told back surgery can make things worse, and unfortunately it happened to me. Now I no longer have health insurance, and my pain is become brutal. I even see a psychiatrist, because of suicidal thoughts. I have always loved life, but I can’t take the pain anymore, no one can live like this, please help.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

April 12, 2015 at 11:22 am

Post count: 8660

#18969

Half of the surgeries I perform are revision surgeries (repairing failed spine surgeries performed elsewhere).”Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery” is a great marketing tool in name but this surgery type has more failures than any other surgery I am required to revise. For reasons made obvious in the ensuing discussion, “Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery” has many problems. This procedure seems to have been adopted more by neurosurgeons (as compared to spine surgeons) and I can tell you that 80% of the failures I see are “Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery” fusions performed by neurosurgeons.

The idea behind “Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery” is not bad. The typical approach to the spine is a midline incision. This exposes the spine through the area where the muscles join together. Years ago Leon Wiltse (a spine surgeon), developed an approach through two lateral incisions. This made placing pedicle screws much easier (part of the fusion process).

This approach was adopted by the “Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery” developers to mean that there was less dissection of tissues required to perform fusion surgery, therefore “Minimally Invasive”. There were studies that compared this type of surgery to the conventional “open” procedures that my predecessors used. Of course, my predecessors did not appreciate a small incision and minimal dissection so the comparisons were way off the mark and made the “Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery” look better by comparison.

I personally do not like the approach to “Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery” for fusion for a number of reasons. First, the truth is that my minimal incision spine surgery through a central incision is less dissection than their approach. If you measure the two incisions these individuals use vs my one incision, my incisions are at least 25-50% smaller in length. In addition, the incisions they use heal less cosmetically acceptable that a smaller central incision (less width and less scar).

The second disadvantage of the “Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery” is that you do not look at the spine centrally during surgery but only at the periphery (the side). This makes decompression of the spine more problematic.

The third disadvantage is the decreased success rate of “Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery”. Admittedly, I only see failures of surgery in my patient base so I don’t see the successes (as these patients would not find me in the first place). My samples may be skewed. Nonetheless, 80% of the failures I see are minimally invasive surgeries. My fusion rate is 99% (but I also use BMP for many procedures).

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.

nakurac
Participant

April 13, 2015 at 7:23 pm

Post count: 8

#18979

Sim8899,

That’s terrible. How do you know that you did not fuse? Did you have the lumbar CAT-scan or is the doctor just guessing?

sim8899
Participant

April 14, 2015 at 1:38 pm

Post count: 2

#18981

Cat scan, showed a failure in fusion. I was then given a back support thing called an Orthoflex, which plugs into the wall and supposed to help the fusion much quicker. That was also a bust. Only thing I’m doing at the moment is taking Potassium pills for the nerves, BC arthritis powder for inflammation, and maximum 4g of Tylenol a day for pain. I know it’s not good for the liver, but I’m running out of options.
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Donald Corenman, MD, DC

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81 reviews

Eric S

Sep 26, 2021

by Eric S on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Successful pars repair at 46 years old

Back in November of 2018 (at 46 years old) I came from Vancouver BC to have a pars repair done with Dr. Donald Corenman at the Steadman Clinic in Vail Colorado. I'm finally posting this review nearly three years later in late 2021. The reason I waited so long was I wanted to know the final result before I posted my review. Unfortunately in that time Dr. Corenman has retired. Nevertheless, I want to post this review of Dr. Corenman and his staff at the Steadman Clinic in their excellent treatment of my L5 pars interarticularis.

I fractured my pars at age 42 back in 2014 when rolling on the gym floor, and was denied treatment by the Canadian healthcare system, probably due to my age. First my GP told me there was no surgical option for a pars defect, which was quite incorrect! I tried to live with it, but the symptoms worsened (periodic random spine slippage and weeks of resultant pain after just bending over to tie my shoe, so I eventually learned to mostly squat and hardly bend). When I finally consulted with Canadian spine surgeons, I was told they believed my pars defect had been congenital (since birth). This was absurd, considering I had done extreme martial arts (including jiu jitsu) for years prior, as well as 5 years of reinforcing steel full time in my 20s, probably the hardest job on the back you can find. No pars defect like mine would possibly have allowed this--ergo it was impossible that I had had the defect since birth. I did however have an asymptomatic congenital spina bifida occulta that made me more susceptible to a pars fracture. In 2014 in one instant, I went from having the strongest back people I knew said they'd ever seen, to being unable to safely bend over and tie my shoe without a non-negligible risk of my spine slipping randomly (which would lead to weeks of pain after each occurrence). This was due to the unilateral L5 pars defect, otherwise known as spondylolysis. It was when lying in pain on the floor 4 years later after maybe the 6th spine slippage event post injury, that I had had enough, and resolved to have surgery. If Canada's "universal health care" said no, I would make lemonade from lemons, and find the very best surgeon in the world at pars repairs. That was Dr. Donald Corenman. Dr. Corenman back in 2018 ran a website https://neckandback.com/ that dedicated many pages to the science of every aspect of pars repairs, from eligibility (good discs on MRI), to best surgical techniques (minimal open compared to minimally invasive), best imaging to use (i.e., O-Arm with Stealth imaging vs. older fluoroscopy), the ideal amount of BMP to use and why not use too much or too little, and much more, all to do with pars repairs, pages upon pages of his site just on the pars, with scientific references and his own extensive expert opinion. As a health research statistician, I was very impressed with this. It was in stark contrast to the websites of other spine surgeons which barely gave the pars a word or two, focusing almost exclusively on fusions. I had found the best surgeon in the world for pars repairs, and so after Dr. Corenman personally screened my MRI to ensure my discs were healthy, I booked the surgery.

Being 46 years old at the time of surgery in 2018, with a 4-year-old pars fracture from 2014 combined with a congenital SBO meant my pars fragment was somewhat atrophied, but it was "very solid", said Dr. Corenman in the operative report. Nevertheless, it was challenging with two things to fix, the pars and SBO, and OR time was around 4 hours. Recovery over the following months was guided by a very clear "Spine binder" from the Steadman Clinic with strict rules of "no BLT" (no bending, lifting or twisting), and illustrated physiotherapy guidelines. They even warned patients to avoid fish oil supplements, which could excessively dampen inflammation and hence slow bone healing. They answered many questions I had during months of recovery, with responses coming from the very supportive Lori Fugate (then director of Dr. Corenman's practice), and Ehrich Bean (then physician's assistant at the practice), as well as a couple calls with Dr. Corenman himself after two of the CT scans. Ehrich Bean offered great advice for taking the spine binder conservatively due to the nature of pars repairs vs. fusions. The final post-op CT scan I had was a couple weeks ago at 34 months post-op, and Dr. Corenman had retired, but I got a very positive and informative call from Eric Strauch (current PA at the Steadman Clinic under Dr. Corenman's replacement there, and who had also worked with Dr. Corenman previously). The staff at the Steadman Clinic were extremely supportive all the way through the process. I should mention, the local Canadian spine surgeon did offer me very good post-operative support including antibiotics as needed to deal with a mild surface incision-site infection early on, booking numerous x-rays when I felt something was amiss, as well as booking all four of my post-op CT scans. I am very grateful for that support also.

My final result shows plenty of solid bone across the pars and a healed SBO, with my vertebral body now a solid bone ring instead of being broken at two places as it was pre-op. Does my spine hold up in the real world? You bet! I have recently dug and moved several yards of dirt and sand and gravel by myself (shovel and wheelbarrow!) to fix our water main, pulled roots from the yard, moved several "portable" (these are HUGE) air conditioners up several flights of stairs my myself, and lifted weights. I now run 2 miles (3.2 KM) several times weekly with a hard 100 meter dash in the middle. I bend deeply before each run I go on, with no spine slippage. My spine feels amazing. I can bend over to do exercise, or real word tasks, with no risk of spine slippage.

My sincere thanks to God, Dr. Donald Corenman, Lori Fugate, Ehrich Bean, Eric Strauch, and the Steadman Clinic, as well as the Canadian spine surgeon who offered me excellent post-operative care back in Canada. You have all given me a new lease on life.

Sincerely,
Eric S

Robert S

May 11, 2021

by Robert S on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Back Fusion Surgery

I had my entire lumbar spine fused in November of 2018. I had scoliosis , with pinched nerves that were so painful I could hardly walk - and standing for more than a few minutes was impossible. Even sitting was painful.
The fusion surgery produced immediate relief! And the recovery was much easier than I expected.
To this day I can do all the activities I love from hiking, to standing in a stream fly fishing to riding my bike long distances - or just walking down the street with my wife.
Kudos to Dr. Corenman and his staff, (including the two Erics) for taking such good care of me!

Leslie R

Jul 9, 2020

by Leslie R on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

TLIF

I had my TLIF surgery on 6/24/2020 by Dr. Corenman, I can not say enough good things about the Dr or his staff. I was always treated with respect and explained everything throughly, that made it easy for everyone to understand. I highly recommend Dr. Corenman and the Steadman Clinic.

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