Facet Joint Arthritis

[mmglobal]

Kinjano... I hope you don't mind, but I moved this thread to the main forum where it will get more traffic.

How did they decide which levels to fuse? Did they have a 'smoking gun' diagnosis, or did they simply operate on the levels that looked the worst.

It is possible that the pain generator is not from the areas targeted with the surgery. I believe the premise of the question is good... if it's fused and immobile, why would there be pain coming from the immobile facets.

What type of fusion did they do? If they only went anterior and left the posterior elements alone, I suppose that there could still be some instability or fracture that is not entirely immobilized???

Mark