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  • When Things Go Horribly Wrong....

    Hi everyone.... I had my second appointment today with my future surgeon and he told me that the chances of becoming paralyzed as a result of the surgery are about 1 in 2000 to 5000 (that's a lot of room to move by the way!). Obviously, as soon as he said that, I focused myself on that risk factor and it made me wonder - does anybody know anybody that HAS become paralyzed as a result of the procedure? Scary stuff.....

  • #2
    Originally posted by Kikki View Post
    Hi everyone.... I had my second appointment today with my future surgeon and he told me that the chances of becoming paralyzed as a result of the surgery are about 1 in 2000 to 5000 (that's a lot of room to move by the way!). Obviously, as soon as he said that, I focused myself on that risk factor and it made me wonder - does anybody know anybody that HAS become paralyzed as a result of the procedure? Scary stuff.....
    Can I ask which procedure this is? I'm guessing this is not a straight posterior spinal fusion in a healthy person with no other medical conditions.

    Will your surgeon be using real time neuro monitoring? The risk factor of paralysis is claimed to be much lower with monitoring.
    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."

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Pooka1 View Post
      Can I ask which procedure this is? I'm guessing this is not a straight posterior spinal fusion in a healthy person with no other medical conditions.

      Will your surgeon be using real time neuro monitoring? The risk factor of paralysis is claimed to be much lower with monitoring.
      Pooka, I'm awfully sorry but I'm not familiar with all the terminology yet so if I'm not making sense, I apologize in advance....

      From what he told me, the procedure will be performed coming in from my side. I assume that's not a "posterior fusion"? Is that what you mean? And yes, I"m a healthy person with no other medical conditions. He said he couldn't possibly look me in the eye and tell me that there were no risks to the spinal cord when the fact is that, although a small risk, there is certainly A risk.

      I don't know if he will be using real time neuro monitoring and it's not something I even thought to ask so thank you - I have written that down as a question for my next visit....

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Kikki View Post
        Pooka, I'm awfully sorry but I'm not familiar with all the terminology yet so if I'm not making sense, I apologize in advance....

        From what he told me, the procedure will be performed coming in from my side. I assume that's not a "posterior fusion"? Is that what you mean? And yes, I"m a healthy person with no other medical conditions. He said he couldn't possibly look me in the eye and tell me that there were no risks to the spinal cord when the fact is that, although a small risk, there is certainly A risk.

        I don't know if he will be using real time neuro monitoring and it's not something I even thought to ask so thank you - I have written that down as a question for my next visit....
        OKay so you are a healthy person having an anterior procedure and he quoted one in 2000 - 5000 risk of paralysis. Maybe Linda can comment on that statistic because it appears very high to me though I am not very familiar with anterior statistics.

        Also, you might want to ask the risk of temporary versus permanent paralysis. I think the risk of permanent paralysis is far lower than that but I don't know that.

        Good luck.
        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


        • #5
          Our Dr also quoted us a 1 in 2000 risk for paralysis, which he raised to one in 1,000 for my son (I believe because of his syrinx).

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          • #6
            Hmmm....1 in 2000 seems pretty high. I didn't really get a specific number, although my doctor/assistant did go over all the complications and said it was very rare for serious complications to happen, such as paralysis. I think it was under 1% even when she told me.

            I mean, almost everything today has a risk, I guess you just have to take that risk. But I am glad I had this surgery, I'm 2.5 weeks out and I love how much straighter I am, how my back is straight and even, and how I'm painfree from standing/sitting for more than 10 minutes.
            Last edited by JDM555; 01-15-2010, 06:36 PM.

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            • #7
              Remember that 1 in 2000 is actually 0.05%, and 1 in 1000 is still only 0.1%. It's a tiny amount, although the risk is still there.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by tonibunny View Post
                Remember that 1 in 2000 is actually 0.05%, and 1 in 1000 is still only 0.1%. It's a tiny amount, although the risk is still there.
                No I still think with real time neuro monitoring at least with PSF on a healthy person, the risk of permanent paralysis is lower. The risk of all paralysis (both temp and perm) or the risk of any complication is of course much higher.

                Maybe Linda knows and maybe I'm not remembering correctly.
                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
                  Hi...

                  One of the UC doctors is an author on a soon-to-be-published paper on the Scoliosis Research Society's M&M data for adult surgery. He hasn't shared the paper with me yet, however. The M&M data for adolescent surgery has been published, but I don't have the full text of the paper. I can look it up next week.

                  I think the number sounds about right. While I've known several individuals who had neurologic complications, I've never heard of a specific case where someone was paralyzed. However, there are a lot of very severe cases of scoliosis around the world. If someone was talking about idiopathic scoliosis cases with curves <100 degrees, I bet the rate is even lower.

                  As Toni points out, a rate of <.1% is pretty negligible.

                  Regards,
                  Linda
                  Never argue with an idiot. They always drag you down to their level, and then they beat you with experience. --Twain
                  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  Surgery 2/10/93 A/P fusion T4-L3
                  Surgery 1/20/11 A/P fusion L2-sacrum w/pelvic fixation

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