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Here I go with my first stupid question

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  • Here I go with my first stupid question

    what does it mean when you say 'instrumentation' vs. 'non-instrumentation'? Does it have something to do with using rods?

    See I told you I'm very new to this stuff and have no clue.

    Thanks,
    Debbe
    __________________________________________
    Debbe - 50 yrs old

    Milwalkee Brace 1976 - 79
    Told by Dr. my curve would never progress

    Surgery 10/15/08 in NYC by Dr. Michael Neuwirth
    Pre-Surgury Thorasic: 66 degrees
    Pre-Surgery Lumbar: 66 degrees

    Post-Surgery Thorasic: 34 degrees
    Post-Surgery Lumbar: 22 degrees

  • #2
    I am pretty sure that non-instrumentation means no rods or screws are used and instrumentation is with rod (s) and screws.

    Sue

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by suzyjay
      I am pretty sure that non-instrumentation means no rods or screws are used and instrumentation is with rod (s) and screws.

      Sue
      Ok, but I don't get it? How can they straighten you without any of this stuff?
      __________________________________________
      Debbe - 50 yrs old

      Milwalkee Brace 1976 - 79
      Told by Dr. my curve would never progress

      Surgery 10/15/08 in NYC by Dr. Michael Neuwirth
      Pre-Surgury Thorasic: 66 degrees
      Pre-Surgery Lumbar: 66 degrees

      Post-Surgery Thorasic: 34 degrees
      Post-Surgery Lumbar: 22 degrees

      Comment


      • #4
        Debbe, not sure in what context you are asking the question, but I think instrumentation is with rods, screws, or some type of "hardware." Non-instrumentation means more non invasive procedures such as physical therapy, bracing, trigger injections, etc...again, not sure what context you are asking question, but this might give some furhter insight.

        LJ

        Comment


        • #5
          Also, if you're reading about someone's fusion surgery from a long time ago, they straightened you and then you were in a body cast, on your back, for a year, to "hold" it in place... it didn't work so well I think. Some of those people will say "spinal fusion with no instrumentation"...
          71 and plugging along... but having some problems
          2007 52° w/ severe lumbar stenosis & L2L3 lateral listhesis (side shift)
          5/4/07 posterior fusion T2-L4 w/ laminectomies and osteotomies @L2L3, L3L4
          Dr. Kim Hammerberg, Rush Univ. Medical Center in Chicago

          Corrected to 15°
          CMT (type 2) DX in 2014, progressing
          10/2018 x-rays - spondylolisthesis at L4/L5 - Dr. DeWald is monitoring

          Click to view my pics: pics of scoli x-rays digital x-rays, and pics of me

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Susie*Bee
            Also, if you're reading about someone's fusion surgery from a long time ago, they straightened you and then you were in a body cast, on your back, for a year, to "hold" it in place... it didn't work so well I think. Some of those people will say "spinal fusion with no instrumentation"...
            Ok I think that's what I read, so I didn't understand how it was fusion without all the hardware.

            Like I said I'm sure this won't be my last stupid question.

            Thanks Everyone,
            Debbe
            __________________________________________
            Debbe - 50 yrs old

            Milwalkee Brace 1976 - 79
            Told by Dr. my curve would never progress

            Surgery 10/15/08 in NYC by Dr. Michael Neuwirth
            Pre-Surgury Thorasic: 66 degrees
            Pre-Surgery Lumbar: 66 degrees

            Post-Surgery Thorasic: 34 degrees
            Post-Surgery Lumbar: 22 degrees

            Comment


            • #7
              Debbe--no question is stupid. Remember that, and ask away.
              71 and plugging along... but having some problems
              2007 52° w/ severe lumbar stenosis & L2L3 lateral listhesis (side shift)
              5/4/07 posterior fusion T2-L4 w/ laminectomies and osteotomies @L2L3, L3L4
              Dr. Kim Hammerberg, Rush Univ. Medical Center in Chicago

              Corrected to 15°
              CMT (type 2) DX in 2014, progressing
              10/2018 x-rays - spondylolisthesis at L4/L5 - Dr. DeWald is monitoring

              Click to view my pics: pics of scoli x-rays digital x-rays, and pics of me

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by debbei
                Ok I think that's what I read, so I didn't understand how it was fusion without all the hardware.

                Like I said I'm sure this won't be my last stupid question.

                Thanks Everyone,
                Debbe
                After the spine fuses, the hardware isn't doing anything and can come out. Of course most folks don't elect another surgery just to remove it but it isn't doing anything in a successful fusion.
                Sharon, mother of identical twin girls with scoliosis

                No island of sanity.

                Question: What do you call alternative medicine that works?
                Answer: Medicine


                "We are all African."

                Comment


                • #9
                  Sharon--that's true, but usually when someone says they had spinal fusion without instrumentation, there was never any hardware involved. Karen Ocker had it that way-- and a friend of mine did too. It was just prior to the Harrington rod era...
                  71 and plugging along... but having some problems
                  2007 52° w/ severe lumbar stenosis & L2L3 lateral listhesis (side shift)
                  5/4/07 posterior fusion T2-L4 w/ laminectomies and osteotomies @L2L3, L3L4
                  Dr. Kim Hammerberg, Rush Univ. Medical Center in Chicago

                  Corrected to 15°
                  CMT (type 2) DX in 2014, progressing
                  10/2018 x-rays - spondylolisthesis at L4/L5 - Dr. DeWald is monitoring

                  Click to view my pics: pics of scoli x-rays digital x-rays, and pics of me

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    In 1966, I had fusions from T4 to T12 without instrumentation. And YES, I spent a year in a plaster body cast. During the first three months, I had to lay immobilized and then I had to figure out how to walk again since physical therapy wasn't wide-spread in that era.
                    Ginger Woolley

                    Oct 2018, L3 - S1, Anterior & Posterior, Dr Sigurd Berven, UCSF, San Francisco
                    ******
                    May 2008, T4 - L3, Dr. Ohenaba Boachie, Hospital for Special Surgery, NYC
                    ******
                    Sept 1967, T4 - T 11, without instrumentation, Dr Thomas Brown, Stanford

                    Comment

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