ADRSupport Community  

Go Back   ADRSupport Community > General Discussion > The Big File

The Big File All issues not easily categorized in the above forums are here. Comments on general health, diet, "getting comfortable," and more are here.


Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 04-26-2005, 08:58 PM
Cat-mt Cat-mt is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 52
Default

Hey all, this article appeared in my local paper The Great Falls Tribune. I called the reporter and asked him to think about a follow-up article about those of us who's insurance has said no, I gave him the web site address so he could check it out and read some of our stories. Anyway here is the story.

Article published Apr 19, 2005
Beating back pain

By RICHARD ECKE
Tribune Staff Writer
Tim Ramsted of Great Falls stood 5-foot-10 going into a new kind of back surgery three months ago in Billings.

He walked out an inch taller.

"The pain I'd had for five years is gone," Ramsted said.

Doctors and researchers for years have been working on better spinal surgeries.

Traditionally, surgeons remove parts of a deteriorating spinal disc and then fuse the vertebrae to the next one in line. This often helps reduce a patient's pain.About 200,000 spinal fusions are performed each year in the United States.

One big concern, however, was often "the next disc up would break down," according to neurosurgeon John Oakley, who performed Ramsted's surgery.

Experts at DePuy Spine Inc. believe they have built a better mousetrap. The Massachusetts company's Charite artificial disc, pictured below, was approved in October by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to replace damaged discs in the lower back.

Oakley said the idea for this artificial disc was dreamed up in the 1980s in East Germany by Dr. Karin Buttner-Jantz, who once competed as a gymnast against Mary Lou Retton. She and Dr. Kurt Schellnack developed the device.

In a two-year study leading up to federal approval, patients who received the device � made up of metallic endplates and a polyethylene core � improved faster, were released from the hospital a day earlier and had pain and function scores that were better than a group of patients who had one type of fusion surgery.

Oakley placed the device in Ramsted's lower back Jan. 20 at St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings. Surgeons worked through an incision in the abdomen, from the front.

The surgery was "totally awesome," Ramsted said in an interview. He was the first patient in the Rocky Mountain northwest to receive the new artificial disc, according to Oakley.

"I'm his poster child," Ramsted said. "I was back to work about three weeks later."

Great Falls physicians who do spine surgery have not yet installed the artificial disc.

"Back pain is such a common condition," said Great Falls neurosurgeon Dale Schaefer Monday. "It generates a lot of different treatments. They tend to come and go."

Schaefer and others would like to see positive results from the new disc before performing it themselves.

"I suspect this will not be a fad," he added.

Great Falls orthopedic surgeon Michael Luckett is trained in the surgery, but has not performed one yet. He said the surgery is very exacting, and is only approved for a small percentage of patients with low back pain.

Ramsted is sold on the surgery.

During an interview three months after the surgery, Ramsted tossed a baseball back and forth to his sons for 40 minutes. Before surgery, he could have made only a few throws.

Ramsted was hurt on a fishing trip in September 2000 when two boats collided on Holter Lake.

"I basically got slammed against the dash," he said. "The lowest three (vertebrae), it tore 'em and compressed 'em."

On good days, his pain was middling. On bad days, his pain was nearly as bad as it could be.

A heating procedure performed by Great Falls neurosurgeon Paul Gorsuch helped the top two discs, and Ramsted also saw Great Falls pain specialist Patrick Galvas, who referred Ramsted to Oakley.

Oakley "immediately said I was the perfect candidate," Ramsted recalled. The new disc had been approved less than a week earlier.

Spinal surgery has been controversial in recent years, largely because surgeons have gone beyond the original scope of what was intended, Oakley explained.

Traditionally, spinal surgery was performed to "get the pressure off the nerves ... to decompress the nervous system," he said. In some cases, surgery aimed to stabilize a spine.

"In the late '80s, early '90s, it became a procedure to relieve back pain," Oakley said. "The successful outcome rate dropped."

Oakley added: "Everybody's got low back pain."

Fusion is not considered ideal because of damage it does to adjoining discs. In the 2000s, several artificial discs have been developed, but only one has received FDA approval so far. More may follow.

The Charite disc is "projected, actually, to last a lifetime," Oakley said. But he said it is too early to decide whether this is a breakthrough.

"I think it will be if Tim Ramsted is any indication," he said.

Money will be a factor for patients. Ramsted said his surgery cost about $38,000, and was covered by his health insurance. But many insurers will not pay for it yet. Oakley said he expects the surgery to cost slightly more than fusion in many cases.

Gorsuch called the new disc "amazing technology." But, he added, "There's a lot of unanswered questions about these artificial discs."

For instance, some patients who receive the artificial disc lose motion in the disc within five years, and pain relief after two years may be no better than fusion surgery, Gorsuch said.

Less invasive fusion techniques are another option, he said.

Some devices appear promising, only to be abandoned later, he noted.

Even so, Gorsuch said, "I'll be going to Wisconsin for the course soon."

Tribune Staff Writer Richard Ecke can be reached by e-mail at reckegreatfal.gannett.com, or at (406) 791-1467 or (800) 438-6600.
__________________
Lumbar pain after 2 MVA's Numerous blocks and epidur's 2 discograms IDET July 2003 L4/L5 & L5/S1.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Info on Contacting Your Local Senators Nairek The Big File 4 07-05-2007 08:55 PM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 07:38 AM.


© Copyright 2006-2023 ADRSupport.org All rights reserved.