With any surgery, there are risks and benefits. The benefit of the surgery is to remove the compression on the nerve to improve the pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness. However, there are always risks with any type of surgery. The risks of surgery includes but is not limited to bleeding, infection, stroke, paralysis, coma, death, pain, numbness, tingling, weakness, spinal fluid leak, failure of the bone to fuse, misplacement of the instrumentation, and need for future surgery.
If a spinal fluid leak occurs during surgery, it is repaired at the time of surgery either by suturing the areas that is leaking, or covering it with a type of “glue”. The patient is typically told to lie flat for several hours after surgery, and then the patient may be up and ambulatory.
If the leak persists, the patient may have headaches that are worse when sitting or standing upright, and which go away when the patient lies flat. If this happens, please call us and let us know.
Patients who smoke have a high rate of pseudoarthrosis, which means failure of the bone to fuse. Smoking decreases the amount of oxygen in the bloodstream, which causes the bones not to fuse. If this happens, then later on the screws will become loose, and additional surgery will be required to re-stabilize the spine. The best thing that the patient can do to prevent failure of fusion is to avoid smoking.
In male patients over 50, or who have a pre-existing history of prostate cancer, or enlarged prostate, the patient may have urinary retention. In some cases, this requires additional medication to aid with urination. In other cases, the patient may require catheterization. This typically improves over several weeks, and is most often due to the pre-existing prostate issues combined with anesthesia. It happens far less often in female patients.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at your convenience.