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What's the most common type of spine surgery for people with back and leg pain? According to the American Association of Neurosurgeons, its lumbar discectomy.
Sometimes the doctor will, by accident, nick the dura during the surgery. The dura is the outer most layer of tissue that covers the spinal cord. This may happen despite your surgeon's best effort, because the tissues that make up the spine are quite delicate. Also, the risk of a tear during surgery is increased if you have diabetes, you're obese, you smoke, you have back conditions such as spondylolisthesis, scoliosis, stenosis (or other), or you've had back surgery before. Your daily posture and movement habits play a role in the risk as well.
One of the main symptoms of a dural tear is a big headache.
According to the CDC, many hospitals avoid reporting dural tears as they happen. It's not hard to guess why - it doesn't put a hospital in its best light when statistics show there's been a signifcant number of dural tears due to spine surgeries performed in their facility. If you haven't heard of dural tears, this underreporting may be part of the reason.
A new study, which looked at data collected by a well-regarded study called the SPORT trial (Spine Patients Outcomes Research Trial) found that dural tears occur at a rate of about 3.2%. The researchers also found that dural tears from a discectomy might present problems in the short term - the surgery will take longer, for example. But this injury doesn't affect the outcome of the surgery in the long term, the study found.
Should you get a dural tear during surgery, you will need treatment for it. Don't hesitate to tell your doctor or nurse if you have a headache right after your surgery.
Sources:
American Association of Neurosurgeons. Press Release. SPORT Study Shows that Complication of Most Common Back Surgery Performed in the U.S. Does Not Affect Long Term Patient Outcome. Accessed: May 4, 2010.
Incidental Durotomy/Dural Tears. ICD-9-CM Coordination and Maintenance Committee. March 19-20, 2008. John D. Shaw, President, Next Wave, Albany, NY. www.cdc.gov/nchs/ppt/icd9/att5ShawMar08B_97-03.ppt
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The current life style and working habits of common man increase the reasons of having a surgery. Headache is a common symptom found in people due to stress and strains in their life and working habits.
Spine Idaho:
The kind of headache she wrote about in this article is one coming from the nicked dura. It causes leakage of the spinal fluid, which causes a horrific headache that is not the common everyday headache of everyday life and working habits.
My sister had back surgery January of 2011. The Dr. said everything went good. The surgery took a lot longer than it should have. Last night she was having so much pain that she went in to see a back surgeon, (not the Dr who did the surgery) that Dr. got her MR from the surgery and spoke with the surgeon who told him that she got a dural tear during the surgery. We were very upset that the Dr never told us this after surgery. She has been having severe headaches and severe back pain. She has a tinge unit inside her back and wants it taken out but the Drs don’t want to do it now because they don’t want to take a chance of another dural tear. If anyone has any advice for us please write me back. She is doing PT to try and help with the pain. No pain medication has helped at all.
Sincerely, Toni House
They finally open me back up I had the biggest dural tear he ever seen. The worst pain in my like, nothing helps those headaches.