
Originally Posted by
burdle
Once you get to your 50s surgeons are less keen to do surgery. They prefer to try to address the pain without surgical intervention.
This might have been your experience, but my Adult Degenerative Scoliosis with a large kyphosis was discovered at age 63. I was "offered" the option of surgery shortly thereafter, but I continued to do PT, acupuncture, meds, procedures, etc hoping to avoid surgery. I continued to followup with the spine surgeon and finally agreed that surgery was my best option at 65 when I could only walk 1/2 block because of pain. My curve was 25/36 and my kyphosis was about 90 as I remember.
I asked the 2 spine surgeons that I consulted with if they thought that I should consider surgery and one said"yes" and the other said "anyone in your situation should probably consider surgery".
The decision to offer surgery to anyone at any age is a complicated process involving numerous variables. For older persons, the decision is complicated by concommitant conditions such Type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, cardiac conditions, frailty, etc.
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