Guest guest Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 I will no longer be using this email for my primary use. Please send all correspondence to my new email address of: jozann@... Thank you!! On Dec 5, 2011, at 4:58 AM, tetheredspinalcord wrote: > Tethered Spinal Cord Syndrome > Messages In This Digest (1 Message) > 1a. > Re: spinal fluid leak From: patricia fischer > View All Topics | Create New Topic > Message > 1a. > Re: spinal fluid leak > Posted by: " patricia fischer " patriciafischer@... pfischer59 > Sun Dec 4, 2011 5:34 am (PST) > > > > Hi Jenn, > > My neuro says I have a rather large pseudomeningocele that appears to show a nerve root thorugh a hole in the dura. He thinks this is the reason my pain and numbness has increased so much. > > > > To: tetheredspinalcord > From: jlbobin@... > Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2011 17:29:11 -0500 > Subject: Re: spinal fluid leak > > If it is a syrinx, it can also be corrected by widening the spinal canal. > The potential benefit to this method is that shunts are a foreign material > in the body, can get infected, can get clogged, etc. OTOH, the spinal canal > can only be widened so much. Sometimes, even after widening, there is still > not enough space for a free flow of CSF and the syrinx remains. Then a > shunt is the only option. > > If it is not a syrinx, there are different options. Most start with strict > bed rest. I think the next least invasive (and pretty common) is a blood > patch. The most invasive (when the aforementioned don't work) is to go back > in and seal the dura (sometimes using graft material such as bovine > pericardium or gortex). With the graft material, some MDs swear that one or > the other reduces the risk of retether. IMO, neither is better at > preventing retether. If you're going to retether, you're going to. There > have been people on this list that have had gortex and others that have had > bovine pericardium (myself included in the latter group) and both have > retethered. In my case, apparently my body didn't like the bovine > pericardium graft and attacked it with scar tissue, causing not only a > severe retether, but also arachnoiditis (among others that probably lead to > its development). My neurosurgeon said that it was far worse than he ever > imagined based on the scan or my symptoms (only pain). He said it looked > like someone poured super glue in my back. But, there are others who have > had that graft material without a problem. Just another reason, I think if > you're going to retether, you're going to. Doesn't matter whether you lay > on your stomach for days post-op, rotate positions (back, left side, > stomach, right side, repeat) every 4 hours (what I did after my first > surgery), are up walking 24 hrs after surgery, have gortex graft material, > have the bovine pericardium graft material, etc. IMO, if you're body's > prone to making scar tissue, it just is (and external is not an indication > of internal). While I know many MDs swear about these methods decreasing > retethers, I've never read a peer-reviewed article about any study that > showed any correlation between these procedures and a decrease in the rate > of retether. But, like I said, these are just my beliefs. > > I guess, we probably need to know what kind of leak you have and what kind > of surgery your MD is planing to do. > > Jenn > > > > > ** > > > > > > Hi . Was syrinx created after the leak? If so, they are going to > > implement a shunt in the area. > > > > > > Sent via BlackBerry by AT & T > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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