X-Stop Interspinous Spacers?
 

Hi All. I am looking for a bit of advice on a few spinals issues.

Background:

I had 3 Mobi-C artificial disks implanted in my cervical spine in 2007 in France, and after nearly 3 years, they have shifted, and I have subluxation (sp?) on two levels- and a lot of radicular pain in hands/neck/shoulders, etc. due to neuropathy.

I have DDD with Spinal Stenosis in my Lumbar spine. have problems pretty much at every level of my spine with DDD, although it looks like the the lower area from L4-S1 is my issue for spinal stenosis.

Questions:
Cervical: Has anyone had a 2nd placement of artificial disks in their cervical spine? Any results? Or if not, has anyone had them removed? What was done?

For my Lumbar spine, I have found a new surgeon who has said I am a candidate for X-Stop implantation on two levels. I have heard about a high failure rate of this device, but I understand in the U.S. it's the only game in town now. I am willing to travel overseas if necessary, as probably we all would be if the pain could be relieved...

Any ideas on any of these situations?

Thanks.

Paul

How old are you?

I should have mentioned it. I am 48 years old and normal weight.

Paul, I have been observed both adr removal to fusion, adr revision to another ADR, fusion revision to another fusion and fusion revision to ADR. Each revision case is unique... it being possible in another case does not make it reasonable for yours.
There are only a handful of surgeons willing to do some of these surgeries. The list of ones with experience in them is even smaller.

There are other interspineous devices that seem better than the x-stop.

Good luck... all the best,

Mark

Would you be able to suggest some of the other approved interspinous spacers? I thought that X-Stop was the only device approved for multi level insertion, that's why I mentioned it. Quite frankly, the failure rate of X-Stop is a concern for me.

Thanks for your comments on the ADR/FUSION/ADR situation. I didn't know if there was one choice that was better received than the other. I'd really hate to go for fusion after this due to the healing time required. However, I'm getting to the point that I'd go for just about any procedure. Obviously on these forums I am not alone.

Not sure if Coflex is approved? This implant is mostly used in Europe. It can be implemented on two levels.

I don't know the approval status of the other spacers. Check out

http://globalpatientnetwork.com/devices

This is a work in progress... still a little lame, but you'll find x-stop, wallis, coflex there.

Here is an article about all of them:

http://www.spine-health.com/treatmen...rocess-spacers

One of the early Coflex surgeries I observed (back when it was still called the Fixano-U) was interesting because the surgeon didn't decide until he got in there, which device he'd use.

I wrote about it here:

http://www.adrsupport.org/forums/f51...pinous-u-7994/

Mobi-C shift
 

Hi Paul,

I also have multi level Mobi-C implanted at C4-5, C5-6 which were placed in 2008. I am curious to know how they shifted after 3 years as I thought they fused into the vertebrae. I also have progressive radiating nerve pain from my neck into upper extremity with continued loss of strength and feeling, but Dr. Zigler at the Texas Spine Institute tells me everything looks great.

After reading your post, I am very curious to know how the shift occurred.

Thanks and I hope you find the relief you are looking for.

Davis

IMHO, multi-level constructs are not good candidates for mobile core devices. (Spinal Kinetics M6, mobi-c, mobi-l, Charite, .... ) If you search ispine for the words "tiddley winks", you should find my description of how if something pushes one core in one direction, it can cause the adjacent level cores to be pushed in the opposite direction. This sets up a configuration that is not secure and the problems at each level multiplies the problems at the next level. I've seen too many of these configurations require revision.

Please note that I have a 2-level Charite' with no problems. Properly implanted in a stable spine, they are fine. Unfortunately, it's too easy to have a problem with this configuration and a problem with multi-level mobile-core ADR's are much worse than the corresponding multi-level stationary core configurations. If you have this (as I do) and are doing well, don't look a gift horse in the mouth... you are fine. However, if you are considering multi-level ADR, consider the mobile core issue very carefully.