Cervical and Lumbar Disc Replacement-Ease of Revision

[tmont]

Folks,

This short PDF is worth the read, addressing the interest and some of the difficulties of revision surgery. Good overview of current US situation and distinction between cervical and lumbar surgery acoording to the author. Points to ponder!

www.oapa.com/McAfee-edit.pdf

Trace

[Harrison]

Good find, Trace, thanks for posting it. Several patients on this board have had revision surgery with Dr. McAfee, who seems (unfortunately?) to have created a good name for himself in this area.

Yes, interesting points in the document as you mentioned...

[tmont]

I don't know if it's unfortunate or not...my tendency is to hope these things are designed and placed correctly and that they last, but I still want surgeons out there who can fix them if things don't evolve as planned!

I find particularly worrisome that for the time being there are more surgeons 'trained' in TDR than actual discs implanted Stateside. I also definitely feel that McAfee is right on the money by saying that manufacturers need to concern themselves as much as the sweating surgeons do as to the reviseability of each disc, and that the FDA should as well...