 |
You don’t usually hear about spinal fusion surgery being related to death. Just the same, a recent study at Wayne State University looked at over 2000 workers compensation claim records of people who had undergone this back surgery. While they found that less than 5% of them had subsequently died, about 20% of those deaths were related to taking pain medication. Many patients take narcotics after back surgery.
The researchers found that men between the ages of 45 to 54 who had spinal fusion for degenerative disk disease, and those who had second fusions were at the highest risk for death related to taking pain meds.
Most studies tend to look at short term outcomes, and this may be why we don’t often hear about death related to back surgery. The beauty of this particular research project is that it looked at follow up data from spinal fusions occurring in 1994 through 2001.
Spinal fusion surgery is the "gold standard" of back surgeries. It is used to address a number of problems from scoliosis to herniated disk, instability of the spine and more. But studies strongly suggest that it is over prescribed to spine patients. If you are considering back surgery, clarify your expectations with your doctor. "Pain relief" may mean one thing to you, but something else to your surgeon. It may be that conservative care, with an emphasis on back exercises can provide the relief you seek.
| Spinal Fusion and Discectomy | What is a Bone Graft? |
=======================
Stay up to date:
Subscribe to
the Back and Neck Pain newsletter
ANDJoin the
discussion in the Back and Neck Pain forum.
=======================
