Quote:
Originally Posted by 6yrslater
Also I was tested for infection 1 yr. Before and they never found anything...but the infextion was indeed there, they said for a few years. When they took out the rods they were all eaten up by the infection.
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I was going to ask about the blood test for infection.
I'm also kind of surprised the rods would have deteriorated (much less caused an infection). I just did some digging, and it turns out that the titanium rods used for surgical implants are actually alloys of Titanium (90%), Aluminum (6%), and Vanadium (4%).
http://www.supraalloys.com/medical-titanium.php
Digging a bit further, I came across this discussion between some doctors on the subject a few years ago:
http://www.fixscoliosis.com/archive/index.php/t-90.html
Apparently, these rods/implants are only expected to have a life expectancy (the rods -- not the patients) of ~20 years. What's supposed to happen after that....? In your case, it wasn't even that long.
From the link above, it appears there may be some studies out there, but why aren't things changing, or patients being fully informed, or a dozen other questions I could think of?
Thanks for the 411. It's something we may be hearing more about with the aging of the Boomers...
Doc