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Q: Laser surgery
asked by:
Hopey
New User
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Replies(1)
RichT
Active User, very eHealthy
Hello Hope,
You have already read the Laser Spine Surgery (LSS) thread, or at least a good portion of it I know. A number of people have shared their thoughts on the LSS thread, and some have had surgery at LSI. I know LSS is like a book now, however, there is a lot of sharing and food for thought there.
Hope, a year ago this past August I too was in communication with LSI. Bonati would not accept Medicare patients, so for me they were out of the running.
I communicated mainly with a lady at LSI, but also a few times with a fellow. Both were very nice. I did send my MRI CD to LSI, and a doctor there did review the images. I was told that they could help me. The report that LSI sent to me listed my back issues as the doctor could determine from the MRIs. He also made recommendations on the surgery that I needed.
A couple of things concerned me -
No mention was made in the report that I had slipped vertebrae at S1/L5. That even I could see from the MRI images that my local spine surgeon went over with me. When I asked the lady about the slipped vertebrae she said to correct that problem would take fusion, and LSI did not do fusion surgeries.
Also mentioned in the report was that they recommended I have a "Facet Thermal Ablation of L3/L4 and or L5/S1 levels". First off, none of the six local spinal surgeons with whom I talked with and who reviewed the MRIs said that there was any issue with my facet joints.
Hope, I can only say that from the posts by people on LSS and other information sources it seems that the thermal ablation procedure is almost routine at the laser spine institutes. THAT concerned me and still concerns me. Thermal ablation is where they sever the pain nerve(s) so that the "pain signal" never gets to the brain. It misleads you into thinking everything is fine with your back. It can mislead you into thinking the surgery was a "success", when perhaps it was not. Yes, traditional spine surgeons also use a similar technique when they feel it is appropriate. Hope, I can only speak for myself. I WANT those pain nerves intact. I want them to tell me something is not right with my back. How else will I know when something gets REALLY bad. In my opinion it is a procedure that perhaps can be used when spinal surgery has failed to reduce/eliminate the source of the pain.
Enough of my experiences and thoughts.
If you have any questons do let me know.
Take care.
RichT
You have already read the Laser Spine Surgery (LSS) thread, or at least a good portion of it I know. A number of people have shared their thoughts on the LSS thread, and some have had surgery at LSI. I know LSS is like a book now, however, there is a lot of sharing and food for thought there.
Hope, a year ago this past August I too was in communication with LSI. Bonati would not accept Medicare patients, so for me they were out of the running.
I communicated mainly with a lady at LSI, but also a few times with a fellow. Both were very nice. I did send my MRI CD to LSI, and a doctor there did review the images. I was told that they could help me. The report that LSI sent to me listed my back issues as the doctor could determine from the MRIs. He also made recommendations on the surgery that I needed.
A couple of things concerned me -
No mention was made in the report that I had slipped vertebrae at S1/L5. That even I could see from the MRI images that my local spine surgeon went over with me. When I asked the lady about the slipped vertebrae she said to correct that problem would take fusion, and LSI did not do fusion surgeries.
Also mentioned in the report was that they recommended I have a "Facet Thermal Ablation of L3/L4 and or L5/S1 levels". First off, none of the six local spinal surgeons with whom I talked with and who reviewed the MRIs said that there was any issue with my facet joints.
Hope, I can only say that from the posts by people on LSS and other information sources it seems that the thermal ablation procedure is almost routine at the laser spine institutes. THAT concerned me and still concerns me. Thermal ablation is where they sever the pain nerve(s) so that the "pain signal" never gets to the brain. It misleads you into thinking everything is fine with your back. It can mislead you into thinking the surgery was a "success", when perhaps it was not. Yes, traditional spine surgeons also use a similar technique when they feel it is appropriate. Hope, I can only speak for myself. I WANT those pain nerves intact. I want them to tell me something is not right with my back. How else will I know when something gets REALLY bad. In my opinion it is a procedure that perhaps can be used when spinal surgery has failed to reduce/eliminate the source of the pain.
Enough of my experiences and thoughts.
If you have any questons do let me know.
Take care.
RichT
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