Hello Hope,
You have already read the Laser Spine
Surgery (LSS) thread, or at least a good
portion of it I know. A number of people
have shared their thoughts on the LSS
thread, and some have had surgery at LSI.
I know LSS is like a book now, however,
there is a lot of sharing and food for
thought there.
Hope, a year ago this past August I too
was in communication with LSI. Bonati
would not accept Medicare patients, so for
me they were out of the running.
I communicated mainly with a lady at LSI,
but also a few times with a fellow. Both
were very nice. I did send my MRI CD to
LSI, and a doctor there did review the
images. I was told that they could help
me. The report that LSI sent to me listed
my back issues as the doctor could
determine from the MRIs. He also made
recommendations on the surgery that I
needed.
A couple of things concerned me -
No mention was made in the report that I
had slipped vertebrae at S1/L5. That even
I could see from the MRI images that my
local spine surgeon went over with me.
When I asked the lady about the slipped
vertebrae she said to correct that problem
would take fusion, and LSI did not do
fusion surgeries.
Also mentioned in the report was that they
recommended I have a "Facet Thermal
Ablation of L3/L4 and or L5/S1 levels".
First off, none of the six local spinal
surgeons with whom I talked with and who
reviewed the MRIs said that there was any
issue with my facet joints.
Hope, I can only say that from the posts
by people on LSS and other information
sources it seems that the thermal ablation
procedure is almost routine at the laser
spine institutes. THAT concerned me and
still concerns me. Thermal ablation is
where they sever the pain nerve(s) so that
the "pain signal" never gets to the brain.
It misleads you into thinking everything
is fine with your back. It can mislead
you into thinking the surgery was a
"success", when perhaps it was not. Yes,
traditional spine surgeons also use a
similar technique when they feel it is
appropriate. Hope, I can only speak for
myself. I WANT those pain nerves intact.
I want them to tell me something is not
right with my back. How else will I know
when something gets REALLY bad. In my
opinion it is a procedure that perhaps can
be used when spinal surgery has failed to
reduce/eliminate the source of the pain.
Enough of my experiences and thoughts.
If you have any
questons do let me know.
Take care.
RichT
