What percentage of spinal fusions are successful?

Depending on the condition the surgery is treating, spinal fusion has a 70 to 90% success rate.

What is the major concern following a spinal fusion?

The complications that can occur include those that would be associated with any type of surgery, such as infection, bleeding, and anesthetic complications. Another potential complication of spine fusion surgery in the low back includes any type of nerve damage.

How successful is l4 L5 Fusion?

Success Rates for TLIF Back Surgery Studies indicate that the patient’s pain is improved 60% to 70% after TLIF spinal fusion surgery and approximately 80% of patients undergoing TLIF spinal fusion surgery are satisfied with the surgical result.

How do you know if your spinal fusion failed?

In addition to chronic back pain, other symptoms of failed back surgery include neurological symptoms (eg, numbness, weakness, tingling sensations), leg pain, and radicular pain (pain that spreads from one area of the body to another, such as from your neck down to your arm).

What happens when a fusion fails?

After any spine surgery, a percentage of patients may still experience pain. This is called failed back or failed fusion syndrome, which is characterized by intractable pain and an inability to return to normal activities. Surgery may be able to fix the condition but not eliminate the pain.

Does spinal fusion surgery increase the odds of recurrence?

The results of the study showed that these patients had a 33 percent relative increase in the likelihood of repeat spinal fusion surgery within one year, and had higher odds of other complications leading to emergency department visits and hospitalizations within 90 days of the procedure.

What are the long-term effects of spinal fusion surgery?

Regarding the long-term effects of spinal fusion, another study showed a progressive worsening of patients’ conditions over the space of 15 years after spinal fusion surgery. Out of 73 patients, five years after surgery, seven patients required revision.

Does spinal fusion prevent future back pain?

Even when spinal fusion provides symptom relief, it does not prevent you from developing more back pain in the future. Most of the degenerative conditions in the spine are caused by arthritis, and surgery will not cure your body of that disease.

Do co‐morbidities affect spinal fusion surgery?

Co‐morbidities and active smoking status have been reported to negatively influence the perioperative course of spinal fusion surgery. With regard to smokers, previous studies have made the observation that smokers, regardless of their age, had prolonged durations of both anesthesia and surgery26.