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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Have Herniated And Diffused Disc. MRI Showed Disc Growing Together. Further?

hi my L-1 an L-2 are herniated and my L-4 an L-5 are diffused and the mri report said that they are growing together i know if i turn or twist the wrong way im out for a few months where they break apart what kind of surgery would i need to fix that or would they put rods in my back ive been holding off on getting surgery for 7 years now and been trying to make up my mind and a little scared of surgery
Wed, 25 Sep 2013
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Spine Surgeon,  's  Response
Hi
Thank you for your question to HCM.

The type of surgery you would need depends on the nature of your complaints. It is not clear from your description what 'L4 and L5 discs are growing together' means. Careful study of MRI images is needed to decide what type of surgery you need if at all surgery is needed.L1 and L2 discs are rarely symptomatic as compared to L4 and L5.

If your complaints are of leg pain, heaviness, tingling, numbness or weakness you will need further intervention. Pain killer medications, physical therapy and bracing are the initial lines of treatment. Epidural injections and nerve specific medications will be helpful if pain is the only complaint.

Decompression is the process of freeing nerves with removal of thickened ligaments, compressive part of disc and bone as necessary. Putting rods and screws and fusing the back is done for instability in the spine where the possibility is high that such instability would lead to recurrent problem. One of the examples of such instability is spondylolisthesis or slip of one vertebra on the other one. Detailed evaluation of imaging studies by a spine surgeon is advised.

Hope this is helpful. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
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Have Herniated And Diffused Disc. MRI Showed Disc Growing Together. Further?

Hi Thank you for your question to HCM. The type of surgery you would need depends on the nature of your complaints. It is not clear from your description what L4 and L5 discs are growing together means. Careful study of MRI images is needed to decide what type of surgery you need if at all surgery is needed.L1 and L2 discs are rarely symptomatic as compared to L4 and L5. If your complaints are of leg pain, heaviness, tingling, numbness or weakness you will need further intervention. Pain killer medications, physical therapy and bracing are the initial lines of treatment. Epidural injections and nerve specific medications will be helpful if pain is the only complaint. Decompression is the process of freeing nerves with removal of thickened ligaments, compressive part of disc and bone as necessary. Putting rods and screws and fusing the back is done for instability in the spine where the possibility is high that such instability would lead to recurrent problem. One of the examples of such instability is spondylolisthesis or slip of one vertebra on the other one. Detailed evaluation of imaging studies by a spine surgeon is advised. Hope this is helpful. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.