Many patients undergoing spinal surgery understand that although the treatment often provides maximum results, there is the risk that the surgery will not work in delivering desired outcomes. Failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) is a condition that happens after a patient undergoes spinal surgery. Patients seeking correction for Hamilton failed back surgery require additional treatment because they either have undesirable outcomes or are experiencing pain after surgery.
What Causes Failed Back Surgery?
Physicians usually recommend surgery as a potential treatment approach for chronic back pain. There are many causes of back pain, including pinched nerves and joint instability, and a surgical procedure targets the root cause of a patient’s concerns. For this reason, a comprehensive examination is critical to help doctors understand the probable cause before recommending surgery as a treatment option.
There are cases where although a physician has completed surgery on an anatomical lesion, a patient continues to experience pain primarily because the injury was not the underlying cause of symptoms.
Predictability of pain after surgery
Physician training should include understanding the level of pain most likely experienced after different procedures. Physicians can then evaluate the seriousness of a system and thus accurately perform a technique to optimize success. The predictability of treatment efficacy in eliminating symptoms like pain varies depending on type and location. For example, a patient may gain more predictable results from a discectomy to correct lumbar herniation causing leg pain than the lower leg pain. A physician should appreciate the significance of analyzing treatment predictability to recommend treatment that has higher degrees of success.
What are FBSS Risk Factors?
Learning about risk factors of failed back surgery syndrome is important because it can help patients prevent undesired outcomes. The factors that influence failed back surgery syndrome occur at different stages of the process, including preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative, as follows:
Preoperative Risk Factors of FBSS
Your doctor may advise against surgery as a treatment option for your spine and back conditions due to the following factors. However, if the patient addresses some of these factors, it can improve their chances of treatment efficacy. Some of the most common preoperative risk factors of failed back surgery syndrome include:
- Drug abuse
- Smoking
- Being overweight
- Underlying mental illnesses like depression and anxiety
- Underlying chronic pain conditions like fibromyalgia
Other preoperative risk factors relate to physicians and include poor patient selection and surgical planning.
Intraoperative risk factors of FBSS
The following factors can occur during the procedure and lead to failed back surgery syndrome:
- Inadequate or excessive decompression: A physician may fail to leave enough space in the spinal canal, causing instability
- Performing surgery at the wrong spinal level
Postoperative Risk Factors of FBSS
- Recurrent diagnosis
- Infection
- Epidural fibrosis
- Spinal nerve root irritation
It is vital to seek emergency medical intervention for your failed back surgery syndrome to preserve the structure and function of your spine and avoid severe complications. However, not all failed back surgery syndrome can receive symptom relief through additional surgery. Contact Interventional Pain Management Associates to undergo a multidisciplinary approach to address your pain and restore wellness and function in your back and spine.
