News - Is costlier spinal surgery worth it?

[Crystal33]

Maybe the high level of poor long term results from existing ADR technology (above) may be largely resolved in future with introduction of new generation of bio design ADR's such as M6. I hope so.
November 4, 2009....."Stenum Hospital announced the successful rollout of the first international patients to receive the Spinal Kinetics M6-L artificial lumbar disc, and the commencement of the implants full availability at the clinic. Four American patients received M6-L implants, one single level, two double level, and one three level intervention, 8 total implants. All patients are doing well."

[ANTHONY]

Hi Crystal
I'm pleased to read something positive. I just wish we lived in Germany.

[sahuaro]

I think some background and perspective--including political--are needed here.
Dr. Deyo is trained in internal medicine--not neurology, not neurosurgery, not orthopedic spine surgery. He has waged a campaign against spine surgery for years and has worked with managed care panels to "study" the cost of spinal surgery. That doesn't mean necessarily that he doesn't make some good points, but as we all know, the aim of HMO's is to save money by denying treatment (to put it bluntly). I am very frightened by his now saying that Medicare is wasting money by covering spine surgeries and see this as the beginning of restricted health care under the new health plan.

BTW, I am doing very well with my Prestige-ST ADR and am very grateful for the surgery--for which we had to pay out of pocket.

[Crystal33]

Sadly, it is a dollar driven world. Medical and big pharma industries are extremely dollar driven. Harsh laws are needed (imo) to ensure that patients cannot be led into unnecessary or unwarranted procedures due to profit motives of others.

"The incentives are such that if there is no difference in risk to patients and people are faced with alternatives that profit them a little or a lot, a certain number of people will choose a lot," said Dr. Eugene J. Carragee, professor of orthopedic surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine, who wrote an accompanying editorial. "It appears that the bigger operations are being done more than the pathology necessarily warrants."

The severity of spinal stenosis has not increased over the past few years, Carragee said. "Without much change in the disease itself, the kind of operations that are being done are increasingly dangerous," he said.

The findings should remind patients and surgeons to carefully assess the risks and benefits of various back procedures, he wrote.

A provision in the recently approved U.S. health care bill provides for studies of alternative procedures for safety and effectiveness, which could change current practice, Carragee said. But it will take years for such studies to be conducted on surgery for back pain, he noted.

SOURCES: Richard A. Deyo, M.D., M.P.H., the Kaiser Permanente-Endowed Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine, Department of Family Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University , Portland, Ore.; Eugene J. Carragee, M.D., professor, orthopedic surgery, and chief, spine surgery center, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.; April 7, 2010, Journal of the American Medical Association"