Complications of Spinal Surgery

When undergoing any type of surgery, there is risk of complication, but when it's spinal surgery, the complications can be very serious because the spinal cord is the center of the nervous system and is responsible for every physical sensation your body feels. The chance that serious complications will occur during your surgery or recovery is slim, but you should be aware of the risks and discuss them with your doctor prior to surgery.

The Facts

Some complications from spinal surgery are the same as those that can affect anyone undergoing serious surgery. These usually pertain to anesthesia, bleeding, blood clots, infections and persistent pain. Other complications, however, are specific to spinal surgery, such as nerve injuries, spinal cord injuries or transitional syndrome, which is caused when a spinal segment next to the surgery site begins to take on more stress.

Types

According to Teri Holwerda, an MSN, RN, ONC, APRN-BC at Saint Mary's Health Care in Michigan, many types of complications can occur during the early post-operative phase of surgery. Potential complications of spinal surgery include a fluid deficit, neurological injury, a dural tear with cerebral spinal fluid leakage, anemia, urinary retention, ileus, pneumonia and venous thrombosis.

Effects

Any complications that may occur during spinal surgery can be very serious. As mentioned previously, dural tears are possible early complications. This occurs when the membrane surrounding the spinal cord is ruptured. The membrane will also leak spinal fluid if it has been punctured during surgery. Many spinal fluid leaks are corrected during surgery, some go unnoticed but eventually correct themselves, while others have serious effects that must be corrected during a second surgical procedure. Spinal nerves can also be damaged during surgery, which results in decreased nerve signal to the area of the body served by the damaged nerve. Usually, this will only affect some movement or sensation, but in rare cases the heart or lungs can be affected and, even rarer still, the patient can die. If a spinal cord infection is caused by a surgery, a person can become paralyzed. This is rare, but it is a possible risk associated with spinal surgery.

Considerations

If you're a smoker and are going to have spine fusion surgery, you should seriously consider quitting smoking. Jonathan Cluett, M.D. at About.com reports that the risk of spine fusion failure, meaning new bone fails to form, rises about 500 percent in those who smoke. This is because smoking impedes new bone formation.

Prevention/Solution

Peter F. Ullrich, Jr., MD, states that spinal surgery is "elective," meaning not really necessary. He believes that if your doctor cannot guarantee you that spinal surgery will make you better off afterwards, you shouldn't have it. As a way to prevent future spinal injury, many doctors recommend opting for non-surgical therapy and only having surgery when you are suffering overt trauma or have developed major neurological complications. Physical therapy has been proven to improve conditions and alleviate pain in all areas of the back.

Sources:
AllAboutBackPain.com
SpineUniverse.com
About.com
Spine-Health.com