
Had Pain Radiating From The Thoracic Area Of Spine. MRI Showed Lateral Disc Protrusion. Suggest?

I have gone through your medical history in detail.
Pain in right thoracic area of spine, rib cage & right breast area may be secondary to a thoracic disc protrusion T5/6. But other local pathologies causing similar pain should always be ruled out. Other conditions such as breast lumps, breast abscess, herpes eruptions/neuralgia, local chest problems can produce similar symptoms and hence need to be excluded.
If everything else is normal surgical decompression of thoracic disc may relieve the pain. However I always recommend a fair conservative treatment trial with analgesics /muscle relaxants & gabapentin before jumping to surgery.
Hope I answered your query. Let me know if you need clarifications.
Regards
Dr. Praveen K Nath, XXXXXXX Consultant Neurosurgeon


How would surgery be performed?
Foraminal stenosis is stenosis of neural foramen which causes pressure on exiting nerves of spine. It can be in T5/6.
Surgery is performed depending on extent/severity of nerve compression. It can be performed posteriorly (from the back) in most of the cases. Anterolateral decompression is needed in only few selected cases.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if you need clarifications.
Regards
Dr. Praveen K Nath XXXXXXX Consultant Neurosurgeon

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