A 35-year-old member asked:
What could cause anterior discectomy with fusion c5-c6 to significantly protrude 3 months after surgery?
2 doctor answers • 3 doctors weighed in
Dr. Greg Khounganiananswered
Orthopedic Surgery 19 years experience
Not sure: A discectomy is just that, removal of the entire disc. So residual disc herniation should not occur, unless a complete discectomy was not performed for some reason.
5.6k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
Dr. Thomas Dowlinganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 41 years experience
Failure to fuse: It sounds as if the interbody spacer or bone graft failed to fuse and has displaced if this was a single level fusion done without instrumentation which can be done for one level surgery with typically no change in healing rate but a 10% chance of non union in a non smoker and higher risk in a smoker. Follow up with your surgeon as to next steps in treatment options.
5.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
Last updated Feb 6, 2015
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