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  • ? MRI...are they allowed after fusion?

    Hi all,

    It has been years since I have visited this site. I had my surgery 8+ years ago and I am doing great with my back. I have a couple of questions that I am having a hard time finding good answers to, can anyone help me.

    1. I have Stainless Steel rods from T3 to L4 am I allowed to get an MRI on my breast? I thought the surgeon had said MRI's are OK but they may have feedback so maybe not clear. I will have my OBGYN check with my surgeon at the next appointment I am just looking for an idea.

    2. When I was a child having all the scoliosis x-rays from 76 to 81, what are the chances that shields were used on my breasts? I do not remember ever having them covered. I do remember the DR's telling my parents I had more x-rays done than anyone should have in a lifetime but who knows why that was said. How dangerous were x-rays during that time?

    I am trying to see my risk % for breast cancer, I have a bad family history of it with 2 sisters and my mother,(mother and 1 sister passed away from BC and the other sister had Mammo and US all clear, no lump that they could feel, but had has yearly MRI's and they found the cancer then) I also have dense breast, and I am worried about all the x-rays as a child. Recent Mammo and US are not showing lumps that my Dr and others can clearly feel, and we need to decide what to do. Do i wait and see, attempt a MRI, or get a surgical biopsy? I really don't want another surgery and am hoping they can do the MRI.

    Thanks for your thoughts on the MRI and X-rays.
    Patty 51 years old
    Surgery May 23, 2007(43 Birthday)
    Posterior T3- L4
    Pre surgery curves
    T-53degrees
    L-38degrees
    and a severe side shift to the right.
    Post surgery curves
    Less than 10 degrees
    Surgery April, 2006
    C4 - C6

  • #2
    MRIS are ok. I actually had one 6 weeks after surgery.

    Stainless steel will cause more noise and artifacts Compared To Titanium. (Artifacts and noise are )basically distortions that makes it hard to see area around the spine) but for you if it's a breast MRI the hardware won't matter.

    I have three titanium rods with cobalt chrome screws aND had no problems getting MRIs done at three different hospitals.
    30 something y.o.

    2003 - T45, L???
    2005 - T50, L31
    bunch of measurements between...

    2011 - T60, L32
    2013 - T68, L?

    Posterior Fusion Sept 2014 -- T3 - L3
    Post - op curve ~35


    Comment


    • #3
      MRI's are fine. You should have no problem.

      Hope you get the news you want

      Melissa
      Melissa

      Fused from C2 - sacrum 7/2011

      April 21, 2020- another broken rod surgery

      Comment


      • #4
        Thank you both, that actually is a huge relief, I thought it would be okay, and I will still have my Dr. check with the surgeon but at least for now I can breath a little easier.

        I am still curious on the X-rays done in the mid to late 70's and how much radiation exposure there was.
        Patty 51 years old
        Surgery May 23, 2007(43 Birthday)
        Posterior T3- L4
        Pre surgery curves
        T-53degrees
        L-38degrees
        and a severe side shift to the right.
        Post surgery curves
        Less than 10 degrees
        Surgery April, 2006
        C4 - C6

        Comment


        • #5
          Patti

          I hope this helps answer your question about x-rays and their effects on us.....I've been nuked through the years, and I'm still here.


          Radiation Hazards: General

          I have gotten the impression that little is known about the effects of radiation, other than that it is very dangerous. Is this true?

          This is untrue. We probably know more about radiation than any other cancer-producing agent (carcinogen), physical or chemical. Experience goes back about 80 years and the information is probably better documented than that for any other carcinogen. Radiation is, in fact, a relatively weak carcinogen and mutagen.

          It is sometimes suggested that if a person is exposed to radiation he/she will develop cancer or at the least is likely to. Is this true?

          This is untrue. Radiation is not very effective in causing cancer and even in large populations exposed to high doses of radiation the increase over the normal cancer rate is small. For instance, follow-up studies (through 1978) of 82,000 exposed Japanese A-bomb survivors have produced an estimated 250 radiation-induced cancers.

          Can the radiation exposure associated with a diagnostic radiologic procedure be more dangerous than the associated illness?

          This is almost always untrue. For individual patients undergoing radiologic procedures related to illness, the benefits of the procedure far outweigh the risks.


          http://ehs.columbia.edu/RadiationQ&AMC.html

          Ed
          Last edited by titaniumed; 06-28-2015, 09:00 AM.
          49 yr old male, now 63, the new 64...
          Pre surgery curves T70,L70
          ALIF/PSA T2-Pelvis 01/29/08, 01/31/08 7" pelvic anchors BMP
          Dr Brett Menmuir St Marys Hospital Reno,Nevada

          Bending and twisting pics after full fusion
          http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/showt...on.&highlight=

          My x-rays
          http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/attac...2&d=1228779214

          http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/attac...3&d=1228779258

          Comment


          • #6
            http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20681802

            http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18349278

            http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10954636

            http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8817782
            Last edited by LindaRacine; 06-28-2015, 11:21 AM.
            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

            Comment


            • #7
              Linda

              In the conclusion of the last study, they mention that the cancer risks can be reduced from 1/2 to 3/4 if the x-rays are shot from the back.

              Why do surgeons shoot x-rays from the front? Is is because they figure if the patient is a surgical candidate that the amount of radiation doesn’t matter much compared to the high doses emitted during scoliosis surgery?


              Ed
              49 yr old male, now 63, the new 64...
              Pre surgery curves T70,L70
              ALIF/PSA T2-Pelvis 01/29/08, 01/31/08 7" pelvic anchors BMP
              Dr Brett Menmuir St Marys Hospital Reno,Nevada

              Bending and twisting pics after full fusion
              http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/showt...on.&highlight=

              My x-rays
              http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/attac...2&d=1228779214

              http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/attac...3&d=1228779258

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by titaniumed View Post
                Linda

                In the conclusion of the last study, they mention that the cancer risks can be reduced from 1/2 to 3/4 if the x-rays are shot from the back.

                Why do surgeons shoot x-rays from the front? Is is because they figure if the patient is a surgical candidate that the amount of radiation doesn’t matter much compared to the high doses emitted during scoliosis surgery?


                Ed
                Hi Ed...

                I don't know. We take all xrays from the back.

                --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

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by LindaRacine View Post
                  Hi Ed...

                  I don't know. We take all xrays from the back.

                  --Linda
                  Linda, Unsure what you mean by, "We take all xrays from the back".
                  When I had my surgery at UCSF I had xrays taken from the front.
                  Susan
                  Adult Onset Degen Scoliosis @65, 25* T & 36* L w/ 11.2 cm coronal balance; T kyphosis 90*; Sev disc degen T & L stenosis

                  2013: T3- S1 Fusion w/ ALIF L4-S1/XLIF L2-4, PSF T4-S1 2 surgeries
                  2014: Hernia @ ALIF repaired; Emergency screw removal SCI T4,5 sec to PJK
                  2015: Rev Broken Bil T & L rods and no fusion: 2 revision surgeries; hardware P. Acnes infection
                  2016: Ant/Lat Lumbar diskectomy w/ 4 cages + BMP + harvested bone
                  2018: Removal L4,5 screw
                  2021: Removal T1 screw & rod

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Thank you for the information, it is very interesting.
                    Patty 51 years old
                    Surgery May 23, 2007(43 Birthday)
                    Posterior T3- L4
                    Pre surgery curves
                    T-53degrees
                    L-38degrees
                    and a severe side shift to the right.
                    Post surgery curves
                    Less than 10 degrees
                    Surgery April, 2006
                    C4 - C6

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Introduction to Chest Radiology University of Virginia

                      When I think about this, I was x-rayed from the back (PA), and the front (AP), and the side, and along with the benders....

                      I guess they wanted to look at everything......I didn’t realize...

                      https://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/cour...cxr/index.html

                      Ed
                      49 yr old male, now 63, the new 64...
                      Pre surgery curves T70,L70
                      ALIF/PSA T2-Pelvis 01/29/08, 01/31/08 7" pelvic anchors BMP
                      Dr Brett Menmuir St Marys Hospital Reno,Nevada

                      Bending and twisting pics after full fusion
                      http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/showt...on.&highlight=

                      My x-rays
                      http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/attac...2&d=1228779214

                      http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/attac...3&d=1228779258

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Susan... I think you're right. I'm thinking that we must have changed to A/P when we switched out to low does technology several years ago.

                        Ed... Spine xrays look identical regardless of whether they're taken from the front or the back, so I wonder why they would have taken both views. Is it possible they take oblique views for some reason?

                        --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

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Linda, they were looking for cancer....they can see all sorts of things on x-rays....

                          My CT’s and radiologists reports revealed some things that I wasn’t especially pleased with.....that I wouldn’t have found out about if I hadn’t insisted on my reports right after they were completed. All stuff that had nothing to do with my spine. Careful what you ask for...... I have had plenty of heavy metals exposure making items for the Air Force through the years......and my surgeon’s knew about my history. (One breath of pure Beryllium dust and you’re history.)

                          MSDS started thousands of years ago, but in the metals industry it wasn’t law until around 1987 I believe..... Things like Beryllium were delivered with a skull and crossbones on the box, and I would get a phone call. It was more of a word of mouth sort of thing many years ago.

                          I am “extremely” safety oriented today, and for good reason, and environmentally astute. I grew up in a supefund site, and used to work at a superfund site. McClellan AFB.

                          I hung around Berry’s creek as a kid. Its in NJ. It has THE highest concentration of Mercury, and this causes nervous system and kidney damage.
                          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berrys_Creek

                          https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/metalsheavy/

                          We are destroying our planet.

                          I cry about it everyday.

                          Ed
                          49 yr old male, now 63, the new 64...
                          Pre surgery curves T70,L70
                          ALIF/PSA T2-Pelvis 01/29/08, 01/31/08 7" pelvic anchors BMP
                          Dr Brett Menmuir St Marys Hospital Reno,Nevada

                          Bending and twisting pics after full fusion
                          http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/showt...on.&highlight=

                          My x-rays
                          http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/attac...2&d=1228779214

                          http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/attac...3&d=1228779258

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Wow Ti Ed that was an interesting post! I looked up Berry's Creek. Those are some high soil concentrations but I am guessing/hoping the form is elemental (metallic). That is not toxic to my understanding. It is only toxic when it gets converted to an organic form (methyl- ethyl-, dimethyl-, etc.) by anaerobic bacteria in sediments. I will try to chase down what concentrations of the organic forms have been measured in the creek area.

                            I agree we are destroying the planet. A prominent scientist, Jim Lovelock who is an atmospheric chemist. He became independently wealthy by inventing the electron-capture detector for gas chromatographs which he sold to Hewlett-Packard and everyone uses it. He got a patent even though it is essentially the same principle as a Geiger counter. Anyway, he used his "leisure" to develop the Gaia hypothesis among other things. I mention him because he thinks w.r.t. climate change, we are beyond the tipping. Even if everyone was on board trying to stop the train, it is too late in his opinion. If that is correct, these Superfund sites will not matter but I certainly hope he isn't right.

                            Despite that, I am alarmed at the wastelands humans have created. We are in the 6th large extinction. No place is too remote to be rendered a wasteland (e.g., Chevron in Ecuador - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lago_Agrio_oil_field).

                            We are creating problems we can't fix even if the money and will were there. This is our home and the only one we will ever have. I fear for future generations.
                            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


                            • #15
                              Sharon, I just lost my response and I’m going to die now.....Must be the “toxic” nature of the post...

                              Its either a Win 8 problem, or me. Probably me. (smiley face)

                              Ed
                              49 yr old male, now 63, the new 64...
                              Pre surgery curves T70,L70
                              ALIF/PSA T2-Pelvis 01/29/08, 01/31/08 7" pelvic anchors BMP
                              Dr Brett Menmuir St Marys Hospital Reno,Nevada

                              Bending and twisting pics after full fusion
                              http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/showt...on.&highlight=

                              My x-rays
                              http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/attac...2&d=1228779214

                              http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/attac...3&d=1228779258

                              Comment

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