A number of people on this forum have had them taken out. I dont think anyone ends up pain free after that sort of surgery but some have had significant improvement.
The option is fuse it posteriorly and see if it helps or go in the front and take it out. You can't take it out from the side at that level. The risks are with all the scarring you get further nerve damage and apparently is risk of dying if you bleed out, major arteries there can be scarred down.
I cant help with doctors, I know Dr Regan has revised some, Pimenta in Brazil has done some.
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Dec 2010 L4/L5 M6 L5/S1 ALIF
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