Spinal fusion at Angeles Health International

Spinal Fusion first came into use as a treatment for low back pain from degenerative disc disease in the early 1900s, when surgeons performing the procedure to limit the deformity caused by tuberculosis infections noticed it also had beneficial effects on some patients' low back pain. Over the past one hundred years spinal fusion surgery has enjoyed variable popularity as a treatment for pain from lumbar degenerative disc disease and today remains controversial in the medical community. Surgeons and researchers alike maintain a wide spectrum of opinion as to how useful spine fusion surgery is and when and how it should be performed.

Some spine surgeons believe fusion surgery is not at all useful and is never indicated for the treatment of low back pain from lumbar degenerative disc disease, while others readily offer patients fusion as a pain management option; some are even willing to perform multiple-level fusion procedures.

As with many things medical, the best treatment for one patient may not be as good for another. The true best practice in regard to spinal fusion lies somewhere between the extremes of opinion about its effectiveness as a treatment for low back pain. In general, when performed by a skilled surgeon for a patient with the right indications, spinal fusion surgery can be an effective treatment that brings significant relief from severe, chronic low back pain caused by degenerative disc disease.

Each patient must weigh the risks of major surgery for themselves and be prepared to undergo a long healing process in order to reap the potential benefits of spinal fusion. This surgery works best for treating one level of the spine, though two levels can be fused in cases where a patient is experiencing particularly severe low back pain. As the number of levels fused increases, the risks of the procedure increase and its potential benefits decrease. Only in rare and extreme cases would many spine surgeons recommend or even offer a three or four-level spinal fusion procedure.