ACDF how many levels question
 

Hello all,

I am a 33 year old active duty Marine and I am scheduled to have ACDF on Tuesday the 31st of July. I have a sever herniated disc between c5-c6 which is causing sever compression of my spinal cord. I do not have the symptoms associated with how bad my spinal cord is compressed. The doctors are all surprised that I walked into the office. Up until last week when I got my MRI results I was training for a marathon. Now I am just waiting for the surgery.

My concerns are the fact that the surgeon wants to give me a three level fusion. He said that the disc above and below are already herniated and we should fuse them all with this surgery, because the surgery is going to cause extra stress on those disc and they are going to fail. I asked him if I only had those issues and we were not doing this surgery if he would remove them. He said no unless I was showing symptoms which I am not, I am only showing symptoms of the herniation at c5-c6.

Does anyone have experience with multiple level of fusions? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Also how affected will I be from this surgery, will I still be able to be an active man? How much range of motion is lost, does this increase with multiple level fusions, and if so how much?

Thanks for any opinions that may come from this post. I am not looking forward to having surgery, this will be my first. I do have a wonderful Fiance' who will be there to help with recovery and my dad is also flying in.

Hi Penguin, Welcome, and Thank You for your service to our country.

Unfortunately there is no way to predict the outcome of these procedures; every one of them is unique in some way. The fact that there is severe spinal cord compression tilts the scales in favor of surgical intervention to prevent further damage. Your age (while this is more often a middle age affliction) and physical condition are in your favor.

Several people on the Spinal Disorders & Back Pain forum have had multi-level fusions. You're welcome to ask any questions there, before and/or after your procedure.

Best Wishes,

Doc

Thanks for the reply,

I met with the surgeon this morning and we decided on a single level fusion and to just remove the severely damaged disc and it will be a fusion at c5-c6. I go in in the morning. I will post after my surgery as to how the recovery is going.

Nice to meet you!!