James,
I'll ditto Jim; a herniated disc protruding into the spinal column can cause sciatica. On this site we've seen MRI's where the spinal cord is pinched to half its diameter, but the patient's symptoms are few and mild. We've seen others where a bulging disc barely effaces the thecal sac, but the patient is in debilitating pain. Everyone is different and only tests can tell what is causing your sciatica.
The way Dr Zigler at TBI explained it to me, the problem in explanting a lumbar ADR has more to do with anatomy and scar tissue from the first surgery. He explained that a surgery leaves a lot of scar tissue and it leave many structures adhered to structures to which they don't naturally adhere. This can make re-accessing a lumbar level a life-threatening procedure.
Jeff
__________________
C4/5 - ACDF in 2000
C5/6 - ACDF in 2002
C3/4 & C6/7 - M6 ADR, Nov 2009, Barcelona
Conceded defeat to a manifestly disingenuous BCBS-TX in my quest for reimbursement, Jan 2011
|