More OR time, less post-surgery pain?
-
The procedure takes longer, but the result is less post-op pain...
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-09-ube-microdiscectomy-beneficial-lumbar-disc.html
-
D4 had an endoscopic microdiscectomy in July.
Two problems for her.
- The disc had been pushing on the L5-S1 nerve root for about 2 months, with absolutely horrible pain (i posted a pic of her). After the microdiscectomy, her pain actually increased - a lot in the immediate postop period (8-12 hours). She required huge doses of dilaudid to get the neuropathic pain under control. The reason for this is probably more nerve root irritation during surgery. Huge. But, she went home the next day. Surgical pain was minimal.
- The discectomy ultimately failed, with further extrusion of the L5-S1 disc, and she ended up with a fusion.
Her surgeon said, "It's called 'back surgery' because the patients always keep coming back.
All that aside, it's a really good idea.. D4's first discectomy was a standard microdiscectomy - she went home that afternoon.
