Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery for Cervical?

[specialk]

New to this forum. Have 2 severe cervical disc hernations at c6/7 and C5/6 what are compressing my spinal cord to less than 50% of diameter.

Does anyone have experience with Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (MISS) and/or endoscopic cervical discectomies that they can share? Anyone with experience with Dr. Jho? Of particular concern is whether joint can be stable after such a large portion is removed.

Thanks!

[biffnoble]

Hi specialk:
Great questions!

Dr. Jho is supposed to be one of the best MISS surgeons in the world.

The question about instability is excellent. In Jho's case there are no studies and he himself says that for many surgeries the long term outcome is unknown.

Are your hernitations directly anterior to cord?

Kerry Edwards on the Brain Talk forum was very pleased with Dr. Jho.

What does 50% compression mean? Do you have a measurement in milimeters?

[Alastair]

New member Juls253 is a USA person living near Munich he had cervical endoscopice proccedure at the AK with Dr Hoogland.

He could be a good person to talk to about the other Cervical things
Best
Alastair

[Ros]

Hello,
I am new to this wonderful forum too. My problems are at the C5-6, 6-7 with C6 Radiculopathy.
I hope to be a candiate for the MISS. I would appreciate it, if anyone that has had this procedure, share their experience. Wishing you all a lovely day. Ros

[paulam310]

I received a cervical diskectomy at C6-7, about 3 months after the procedure I knew I was in trouble, I found out my disk had collapsed. Diskectomys in the cervical spine are done anteriorly, this means as you know that 1/4 to 1/3 of the annulus fibers must be removed completely in order to get the instruments in the space. I thought that my disk would hold, but cutting out a third of the fibers on a already degenerated disk further weakened it. A year later I replaced the collapsed disk with an adr.
In retrospect I see that a diskectomy on the neck, unlike the low back, is a risky procedure.

[Ros]

Hello Paul,
Thank You for sharing your experience with us. I was wondering who did your Discectomy. I need surgery at least at 2 levels. I hope you are doing well after the ADR. Wishing you the best. Ros

[Lauri]

I am 5 weeks post op today, from having Dr. Jho's procedure done.
I could not be happier!!!
I know the fear that a lot of you face with the only communication with his office being by email and telephone, but I would have to recommend if you are a candidate for his procedure you would not find a finer more professional caring staff.
I flew to Pittsburgh from Seattle with the butterflies, of flying into the unknown.
I had the fear of what am I getting myself into from a www.com website. Well when I met him the day before my surgery all my fears were put to rest.
While I was there He was training three other surgeons his procedure so they accompanied him through all the pre-visits and pre-op consolations. All 5 men could not have been more professional and each of them were able to put all my fears to complete rest.
I left my entire family back in Washington. My husband and children, and when you undergo such a delicate surgery these things weigh on your mind.
I suffered hernation, & bone spurs that compressed nerves on C3-C5.
Each day for 2 long years, I suffered from severe migraine headaches that would last over 30 + days with full effects. (light sensitivity, vomiting, nausea to water, etc) and 5 weeks before my surgery date I caught the office cold and thought I broke/fractured my neck. (I could not stand, sit, lie down without severe pain for more than 5 minutes at a time) Well what happened I caused one of the disks to compress on the nerves even more. I had severe left body pain mostly concentrating in my left arm to the point of, I wanted it amputated. At this point in my condition I could not travel, work, or even exist. I realize now that I put my loved ones through hell with me as I was suffering.
Surgery went great!! As I was coming out of recovery I had already began to feel extremely better. The soft ball size knots in my entire left arm were diminishing immediately. (three total - forearm, bicep, shoulder cap).
My procedure was on Tuesday and I was flying home on Thursday.
I feel young again and feel totally indebted to Dr. Jho and his staff for giving me my life back.
I smile all the time and the ones around me can feel the joy I feel and they sense the happiness in my voice.
I have already lost 15 pounds just due to feeling good and able to get out and enjoy life again.

The year before I flew back to Pittsburgh I seen many Dr�s . and Surgeons, but in my heart RADICAL surgery was not the answer for me at this point in my life.

Please feel free to contact me if you have further questions about Dr. Jho. Lauri in Olympia, WA

[Rein]

I think it's important to note that discectomies of the lumbar area are pretty much a stopgap measure to relieve immediate, crippling pain. A large percentage of them result, eventually, in completely degenerated discs requiring further surgery (either fusion or ADR).

As for cervical discectomies, I haven't done any research or really paid that much attention to the numbers of individuals who have had the procedure and whether the numbers correspond to the lumbar numbers in terms of eventual failures.

This isn't to say that MISS techniques haven't been improving and actual repair of the disc annulus through cautery or other technique with subsequent regrowth of lost nucleus material isn't happening or successful. Just reporting on the majority of cases where no attempt is made to heal the disc, simply to remove lost nucleus pulposa which impinges on nearby spinal cord or branches.

[Alastair]

Hi Rein,
I think you're missing a lot of the purpose of endoscopic work if you think that it's just trimming bits of disk away which might be pressing upon the spinal cord.

Just four weeks ago we had a UK member go to the Alphaklinik and have regeneration work done upon a disk which was being troublesome.

Dr Hoogland is the expert at this, if you feel you can afford to go to the Alphaklinik then I would suggest you make enquiries from them.

The process that they do their helps the disk which has been troublesome to regenerate itself in five to six weeks time. Maybe a little bit more research is called for by you.
Best wishes,
Alastair

[Rein]

Hey, Alastair

Actually, if you read my post carefully, you'll see that I agree with your statements. I was only pointing out that discectomies have largely been unproductive longterm. The first sentence of my last paragraph directly addresses what you've just posted.

The term endoscopy refers to the method of approach and is currently utilized for both discectomy and regeneration techniques (as well as a myriad of other procedural accesses throughout the body).

I certainly won't disagree with your suggestion that I could do with a bit more research. I could do with a *lot* more research, if I only had the time! ;-)