Cervical Imaging / post ADR
 

I am about 2-3/4 years out from my two-level Mobi-C cervical implant surgery, and would like to know more about my options for cervical spine imaging post ADR.
My experience in the US with post lumbar ADR (I have 3!) imaging has been mostly a waste of time, other than a myelogram with CT. I'm hoping to avoid a cervical myelogram if at all possible, for obvious reasons (arachnoiditis risk, infection risk, spinal cord breach, reaction to injected chemicals, etc.).
Any ideas, experiences, or new technology out there that you guys can share with me about post ADR cervical and/or thoracic imaging?

Thanks in advance for your help,
Jeff

Hey Jeff... I'm so sorry that you are still dealing with these issues. Talk to me later in the week. I have a thoracic MRI scheduled on Tuesday. My ProDisc-Novas should be a bit more MRI friendly since they have more titanium and less cobalt chrome, but I expect the artifact to be substantial. I already talked it over with MRI technician... he recommended teh 1.5 tesla mri instead of the stronger 3.0 because that will have less artifact.

Call me Wednesday or Thursday and I'll tell you more.

Mark

imaging
 

Mark,
Please let me know how the imaging went for you.
The last time I had a lumbar MRI performed post 3-level lumbar ADR, I presented the technician with all of the information that I could gather related to successful post-ADR imaging, and was met with bewilderment and ignorance. I submitted detailed information and asked that it "travel" through the system so that the radiologist could have a good idea of what was needed -but when the resulting images were very poor, the radiologist report contained verbage like "streaking due to experimental fusion device", etc.
I am very reluctant to waste more time and money (over and over again) with U.S. doctors, so I will have to save up (don't have any $$$ left, it's all in my spine), faithfully bare this agonizing, horrendous pain that I live with 24/7, and prayerfully wait until I can afford to go back to Deutschland, where at least I can get a truthful and reliable diagnosis.
Sorry for rambling....

I know this post is 5 years old but I wish I would have noted this information 5 years ago but did not run across it until today, 4 month AFTER I had a 3 Teslas ri scan with my 2 prodiscs C4-6.

If you are planning on having an MRI of your cervical with existing ADR implants then DO NOT have a 3 TESLA. It got quite hot in my spine in 10 minutes and the result was a waste due to the much increased artifacts of 3T! Trip and cost wasted. What I have also learned is that the "upright" mri with its only .3 permanent magnet makes grainy but better picture of a spine with metal hardware installed. Find one of these if you re trying to find out what is going on around your ADRs!

Fuzzy, nice to see you here. Call some time and we'll catch up. I hope you are OK.

I've had a 3T MRI after all my ADR's (6!) I did get warm. I've also gotten warm on a 1.5 T cervical. It did make me anxious. I've probably had more than 20 MRI's and never got anxious until the hot ones. (except when in so much pain that laying flat and still was so hard... knowing that if you move, they'll have to redo that series.)

Mark