Evaluation Questions for My Neurosurgeon

[Carl R]

All of the recent talk and new trials taking place have lead me to the point where I am trying to set up an appointment with the neurosurgeon who did my original surgery and fusion. I had no idea at the time what questions to ask. Now I want to find out exactly what was done and how. Dr Young & everyone else, what questions should I ask and what can you see that upcoming trials might ask that I need to know?

This is what I have so far(I'm a C5):
Was my cord decompressed?
Was methylpregnisone used?
Were the rods used for fusion steel or titanium?
What is the length of the injured area(in centimeters)?

[Wise Young]

If I were you, I would probably concentrate on what the current status of your spinal cord is. What was done was done. For example, you will feel bad if you find that your spinal cord was not decompressed or decompressed late (like 1-2 weeks after injury) or that you did not receive methylprednisolone within 8 hours after injury.

I estimate that about a majority people in the U.S. did not get adequately decompressed during the first few hours after injury, that probably 20-30% of people did not receive methylprednisolone on time after injury.

The length of spinal cord that was injured is not always clear on MRI and I am not sure that it makes much difference. In my opinion, the more important questions that something can be done about are:

1. Do I still have compression on my spinal cord? This should be visible on MRI of your spinal cord.

2. Is my spinal cord tethered (i.e. is there scar tissue that is adhering the spinal cord to the dura or the dura to the surrounding tissues).

3. Do I have a syrinx (an intraspinal cyst) and has it grown at all since the last MRI.

4. Do I have damage to the gray matter of the spinal cord and hence the motoneurons and interneurons that control my arms or legs. If so, axonal regeneration alone may not completely restore function and some neuronal replacement therapy may be necessary.

Wise.

[DA]

dr young you forgot 1 important question.

which overseas doctor is the best choice?

[Wise Young]

The grass always looks greener on the other side but once you get there, you realize that the grass at home may not be so bad after all. You have to understand that doctors are human and they don't change their habits and approaches developed over a life time of practice. A new generation of neurosurgeons are coming out who will be able to make use of the new technology that is being developed in laboratories. Wise.

[DA]

it feels like im neck deep in sand, much less any grass color.

[etexley]

Doctor, given an MRI, can you give us a brief idea of what to look for for tethering, compression, ?

I have to say, i don't understand this doctor. An electrical engineer wouldn't be well payed for designing with vacuum tubes nowadays. And a programmer wouldn't be well compensated for writing 8085 assembly. Why should surgeons be well compensated for procedures, decades old?

Eric Texley

[Carl R]

I was under the impression that the length of the injury site was very important, as to what treatments might or might not work. I thought there was some speculation that certain treatments regenerative effects would give up if they had not reached their targets in a certain amount of time, thereby making the injury size very important.

Also, how difficult is the decompression surgery as far as recovery assuming no complications? How difficult is hardware removal? And is decompression still effective after three years if I didn't get it to start with?