Patient's Guide to Risks Involved in Spine Surgery

Complications are involved in any surgery. However, it can be major or minor depending on the type of surgery. If it is a spine surgery, then there could be some very complications. There may be risk of pain and impairment following the surgery which may require another surgery. These complications related to the surgery should be discussed with your surgeon before the procedure. Let us know what are the complications involved in spine surgery. 

General complications that can occur after spine surgery include anesthesia complications, blood clots, bleeding, lung problems, dural tear, persistent pain and infection.

Anesthesia complications

Only few patients report problems from anesthesia. These complications may occur due to reactions to the drugs used, problems with anesthesia or other medical conditions that patient may have. Anesthesia can interfere with the functioning of the lungs and create problems with lung infections. Patient may experience vomiting and nausea which can be treated with medicines. 

Bleeding

There could be unexpected bleeding following the spine surgery. Surgeon has to move the abdominal aorta and large vessels going to the legs out of there way while performing spine surgeries through the abdominal cavity.

Blood Clotting

Blood clotting or thrombophlebitis is the common problem occuring in many surgical procedures. Blood clots are formed in the large veins of the calf which may continue growing and reach upto the veins of the thigh and in few cases into the pelvis veins. It is very important to prevent blood clotting. Blood clots in the deep veins of the legs may hinder normal flow of blood from legs to the heart. This results in swelling and pain in the affected leg. The risk of developing blood clot should be prevented in any type of surgery. This could be done through mechanical and medical ways. Mechanical measure involves improving the blood flow and medical process involves use of drugs to slow down the clotting process.

Dural Tear

The spinal cord and spinal nerves are covered by a watertight sac of tissue called as dura mater. A tear can occur in this covering during spine surgery. If it noticed during the surgery, tear can be simply repaired. If unnoticed, tear will not heal and will continue to leak spinal fluid which can create problems like spinal headache, spinal meningitis, etc.  

About Fortis Healthcare

Fortis Healthcare is the best hospital offering high quality and affordable treatment for various diseases. We are leading group of hospitals in India offering world class medical facilities backed by experienced doctors and cutting edge technology. Fortis offers centers of excellence for cardiac sciences, bone and joint, neuro sciences, renal sciences, gastro sciences, organ transplants and critical care.

Patient Guide to Spinal Fusion Surgery

Spinal fusion is a procedure in which bone graft material is placed between adjacent vertebrae to help bone growth that fuses together the two structures. The procedure can be performed through minimally invasive surgical approach for candidates who are suitable for it.

When is Spinal Fusion Recommended?

 Spinal fusion may be recommended to treat a number of conditions. These are – correction of deformity such slippages or spinal curves, treatment of a fractured bone, treatment of instability, relieve pain from painful motion and treatment of cervical disc herniations.

Spinal fusion is usually suggested only after traditional treatments have failed. There are several factors to be considered before recommending this procedure including the problem to be treated, patient age, health, lifestyle and expected level of activity after the surgery.

How is Spinal Fusion Done?

There are many surgical methods and procedures, but all of them require placing a bone graft material between vertebrae. The bone graft can be either taken from patient i.e autograft or from a bone bank I.e allograft or a synthetic bone substitute known as bone morphogenetic protein (BMP).

The spine may be accessed either from the anterior side, posterior side or the sideways to position the graft. The surgeon may adopt more than one approach as well depending on the necessity. Patients should discuss fusion approach options in detail with their surgeons and depend on their judgement to understand which one is best for them.   

Traditional Spinal Fusion Vs Modern Approach

Traditionally, spinal fusion is performed as an open procedure in which an incison is made, bands of muscle is stripped and muscle and tissue are retracted for a clear view of the spine and to reach the vertebrae easily for implantation.

Traditionally, autograft is the most commonly used graft material. However, removing bone from the patient's iliac crest or pelvis is very painful. This unnecessary procedure is not required in allograft but healing is not as predictable as in autograft. BMP induces patient's own bone cells to make more bone.

Modern spinal fusion process uses less invasive surgical techniques like muscle dilation which makes the highly invasive posterior fusion method unnecessary in most of the cases.

About Fortis Healthcare

Fortis Healthcare is the best hospital offering high quality and affordable treatment for various diseases. We are leading group of hospitals in India offering world class medical facilities backed by experienced doctors and cutting edge technology. Fortis offers centers of excellence for cardiac sciences, bone and joint, neuro sciences, renal sciences, gastro sciences, organ transplants and critical care.

A Patient Guide to Brain Tumor

There are many symptoms of brain tumor and majority of them can also be diagnosed in people who do not suffer from this disease. Therefore, some people ignore the signs when first noticed without understanding that they can cause cancer. Being aware of the common symptoms of brain cancer can help those patients who experience these symptoms so that they can undergo proper diagnosis to know if it is cancerous or not. 

Some of the common brain tumor symptoms are:

Headaches
Depression
Sensory (touch) and motor (movement control) loss
Seizures
Hearing loss
Deep venous thrombosis (DVT, or blood clot)
Vision loss
Fatigue
Endocrine dysfunction (hormone/gland changes)
Behavioral and cognitive (thinking) changes

 These symptoms depend on the size, type and location of the brain tumor as well as the treatments adopted. Chemotherapy, surgery, radiation and other treatments all have the capability to develop new symptoms as they function to lower the effect of the tumor. 

Diagnosis of brain tumor

A number of tests are done to help doctors diagnose brain tumor. These tests can also confirm the type of tumor. Some tests are performed to initially diagnose the tumor and later employed to see the progress – if the tumor has reduced in size, has disappeared, remains the same or has changed in some way. Follow up care is needed for years or even for lifetime in few cases. 

About Fortis Healthcare

Fortis Healthcare is the best hospital offering high quality and affordable treatment for various diseases. We are leading group of hospitals in India offering world class medical facilities backed by experienced doctors and cutting edge technology. Fortis offers centers of excellence for cardiac sciences, bone and joint, neuro sciences, renal sciences, gastro sciences, organ transplants and critical care.