Failed back surgery syndrome is a misnomer because it is not actually a syndrome; rather, it is a very broad term that is frequently used to describe the condition of patients who got a poor outcome with back surgery or spine surgery and have continued to experience pain afterward. In any other form of operation, there is no analogous word for botched back surgery syndrome (e.g. there is no failed cardiac surgery syndrome, failed knee surgery syndrome, etc.).
Simply put, if you experience prolonged back or neck pain following spine surgery, you have failed back surgery. In other words, the predictable surgery outcome for you and your spine surgeon—that your spine pain will be reduced or eliminated—did not occur.
Other signs of unsuccessful back surgery include neurological signs (e.g., weakness, numbness, and tingling feel), radicular pain, and leg pain along with chronic back pain.
There are numerous reasons why back surgery may or may not be successful, and with the best surgeon, spine surgery is only 95% predictive of a positive outcome.
Reasons for Back Surgery Failure and Post-Surgery Pain
Only two things can be accomplished with spine surgery:
-
Decompress a pinched nerve root,
-
Stabilize a painful joint.
Unfortunately, back surgery or spine surgery will not be able to eliminate a patient's discomfort completely. It can only affect anatomy, therefore an anatomical lesion (damage) that is a likely cause of back pain must be discovered prior to back surgery or spine surgery, rather than afterward.
Predictability of Post-Surgery Pain
Some types of back surgery are significantly more predictable than others when it comes to relieving a patient's problems.
-
A discectomy (or microdiscectomy) for a lumbar disc herniation may cause leg pain, for example, is a relatively predictable procedure. A discectomy for a lumbar disc herniation causing lower back discomfort, on the other hand, is significantly less likely to be successful.
-
A spine union for spinal instability (such as spondylolisthesis) is a reasonably straightforward procedure. Fusion surgery for multi-level lumbar degenerative disc degeneration, on the other hand, is considerably less likely to reduce a patient's pain after surgery.
After a failed back surgery, there are several treatments to improve your life quality.
It can be disheartening to learn that your spine surgery did not achieve the results you had hoped for, but therapies can help you manage your pain and regain your ability to function in daily life. Spine surgery will not solve all of a patient's pain problems.
To treat your pain, your spine surgeon could take a multidisciplinary approach: It means that, rather than depending on a single treatment (e.g., drugs or surgery), the doctor may propose a combination of therapies that address all aspects of your pain. Your doctor may recommend you to a physical counselor to help you regain function, as well as a behavioral health specialist to help you with mental and emotional issues. You could be a person for spinal cord stimulation, or your doctor may prescribe drugs to help you manage pain. Whatever treatments are employed, they will be tailored to you and provide you with the best chance of recovery.
At Neuroscience Specialist will help you to get your symptoms treated at the earliest.
**Disclaimer- Information presented here is not intended to be qualified medical advice. Nothing expressed herein creates a doctor-patient relationship.