New and need some info please

[CheriTX]

Hello, I had an injury a long time ago and herniated disk C 5-6. I am now 48 yrs old and have degeneration of C3-4 through C6-7. I have chronic neck pain, and also occipital neuralgia and chronic daily headaches.

On my MRI I have narrowing of my left C3-4 neural foramen also. I also have pain on the left side of my neck and cannot lie on my left side, and my occipital neuralgia is also worse on my left.

I had a discogram which showed the C5-6 was the cause of most of my disc pain. The doctor at Texas Back Institute recommend a Pro-disk C for C5-6. The doctors there are orthopedist.

However, I got a second opinion with a neurosurgeon and he recommended a fusion with a foramenotomy of left C3-4. He said that they just don't know how long the ADRs will last, and it would be very serious if it failed and needed to be replaced.

My questions are:

1) How long are the Prodisc Cs going to last, and what happens after they fail?

2) Some people have recommended going with a neurosurgeon instead of an orthopedist spine surgeon. Any comments?

3) An orthopedist will not do a foramenotomy, so should I find a neurosurgeon who will do both an ADR and foramentomy at the same time? Or just start with the ADR.

4) The neurosurgeon said that I was developing ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL). Any one know what the significance of this is? The orthopedist at Texas Back Institue in Plano did not mention this.

Right now I am schedule for surger in 2 weeks.
Thanks for your help.

[Jen93312]

For whatever it is worth, I recently had a foraminotomy at the c5-c6 level with an orthopedic doctor. He also has a degree in Engineering which I thought contributed to his meticulous placement of adr's and understanding of biomechanics.

It seems the doctors who have little to no experience in adr's are naturally the ones not recommending them. There is plenty of documentation out there on how many cycles, loads, etc. regarding the Prodisc C. My main concerns would be to use a surgeon who has been implanting adr's for years, bi-level experience, and the best technology (disc).

Did the doctor who recommended fusion discuss the likelihood of adjacent disc degeneration?

Just some quick thoughts regarding your scenario!

[CheriTX]

I just wrote up a lengthy reply and accidentally touched something on my computer, and it erased it all.

Oh well, condensed: A doctor two years ago recommended a two level adr. Now I have four level ddd, but after a four lvl discogram, Dr. Blumenthal recommended only one level, but I think he forgot about my MRI and only based his decision on the discogram.

I have narrowed foramens, will the ADR open the neural foramen space up at thet level, or do I also need a foramenotomy?

Also, I think I need a foramenotomy at C3-4, which one doctor said, and I have pain there.

I am concerned about the future of my other discs too, and whether scar tissue from this surgery will make future surgery more difficult and danger for me (scarring of carotid, vagus nerve, etc.)

Any insights would be gratefully received.

I am schedule for surger in 10 days.