Discogram scheduled

[timetofaceit]

OK, I need a place to vent. I know that God's plan is perfect and He is in complete control -- God's not surprised by all these delays but I am! Today I found out I have to have a discogram which is scheduled July 2 at 8:30 a.m. First of all, I would like to hear from people that have had them regarding how painful they are. I have had CT, MRI and now this. Seems like there is always one more step in getting this surgery scheduled. I know we want the Drs. to have all the knowledge that they need before they go in, it's just kind of frustrating. The wait continues. Guess this is good practice for the wait after the surgery!! :)

[debbei]

Hi There,

Sorry I didn't need the discogram, but I wanted to tell you this: this time waiting prior to the surgery (in my opinion) was 10 times as much torture as the time after the surgery. I hope the test goes quickly and painlessly. :)

[LindaRacine]

Hi Time...

There's some very new research that casts a negative light on discography:

http://www.orthosupersite.com/view.asp?rID=40067

Discography may quicken disc degeneration

By Robert Trace
1st on the web (May 20, 2009)
MIAMI — Results of a 10-year, prospective study suggest that discography can result in accelerated disc degeneration and herniation.

In the multicenter study, 75 patients without serious low back pain received an MRI and discography examinations in 1997. A matched group was enrolled at the same time and underwent the same MRI examination.

Discs that had been exposed to discography demonstrated signs of greater degeneration at 10-year follow-up than discs that were not exposed to the procedure, Eugene J. Carragee, MD, of Stanford University, said at the 36th Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine (ISSLS), here.

“We also saw a greater loss of disc height and signal intensity in the group of patients who had discography compared to the control group,” he said.

In qualitative MRI findings, Carragee and his colleagues documented new cases of disc herniation, new endplate changes and progression of disc degeneration more frequently in the patients who were exposed to disc injection.

“Disc puncture, even with modern discographic techniques, causes definitive structural injury to IV discs,” he said.

The findings confirm the results of earlier animal and organ culture studies, Carragee noted. As such, orthopedic spine surgeons need to carefully consider the risk and benefit of disc puncture for diagnostic or therapeutic interventions.

The investigation did have a few limitations, according to Carragee, including the fact that study subjects were predisposed to disc degeneration, and the effect may not be the same in everyone. Also, “The rate of degenerative changes is unclear, since we only used two time points in the study. Finally, the results were not homogeneous among the groups. Some discs showed no progression at all,” he said.

Carragee and his colleagues earned the Best Clinical Paper Award for their presentation at the ISSLS meeting.

Reference:

Carragee E, Don A, Hurwitz E, et al. Does discography cause accelerated progression of degeneration changes in the lumbar disc: A ten-year cohort-controlled study. Paper # 57. Presented at the 36th Annual Meeting of the International Society of the Study of the Lumbar Spine. May 4-8, 2009. Miami.

[Doodles]

Somewhere on here months ago I talked about this. I had one with the first doctor I saw in Texas in July. I had never heard of it and just went off to have this done even though they described it as "brutal". Maybe that made me extra geared for it cuz I actually didn't think it was too awful. However, I went to Dr. Lenke in Sept. for second opinion and they said they never did them anymore due to problems from then. Coincidentally in that time my curves had gotten worse and definitely the pain. By the time I went in Feb. for pre-op appt. it had added on a few more degrees to each curve.
I even asked in Sept. could that have made it worse because my lower back was definitely in more pain. I'd also done some research then and found that they aren't done that much anymore. In the end with surgery in March I guess it didn't matter since they took them out anyway, except it added to months of even more discomfort.
I hadn't seen the research before that Linda R had but it sure makes sense. Good luck. Janet

[Suzy]

I had one and it wasn't bad at all. Mine was 1/06 one of the many tests before surgery. They explained to me they were going to try to recreate the pain I was feeling to see if it was disc related or not. They could not recreate any pain during the procedure. (They put you out then wake you slightly.) I remembered nothing after it was over. Then I went to have x-rays taken right after. Interesting to me the DR's. aren't all doing it now as it seemed thy were back then. Wow, "back then." Hard to believe it has been 3 years and 4 mos!



2/22/06 Lumbar curve was 49* now 8* fused T10-L4

[JoAnn5]

When i had mine in 2005, they used 'conscious sedation'. I was very groggy almost asleep but they just kept poking me...lol. I remember them hitting very painful spots and me saying 'OWW' a few times. Then you wake up in recovery and snooze a little longer, then get up and go home. I'm sorry to say that i had some pretty significant soreness for a few days afterwards, but they give you something to take for pain, so it's not intolerable.