Hello, I have had surgery in Jan 2001 to fix a herinated disc at C5-C6. Still having numbness and pain in both hands (pinky through middle finger) and shocks in my left hand going down to fingers.
Had a new MRI done a couple of weeks ago, and the Dr was not avail. to read the results at my appt. Go to see him this Friday, but looking for some help before I go to ease my mind a bit.
Here are the findings:

C2-3 Mild intervertebral desiccation is seen with normal disc height. No focal disc bulge or disc protrusion is seen.

C3-4 Mild intervertebral disc desiccation is seen with normal disc height, A 3.00 mm right paracentral broad-based disc protrusion is noted resulting in minimal central canal stenosis and minimal right neural foraminal stenosis. The left neutal foramen is patent.

C4-5 Mild intervertebral desiccation is seen with normal disc height. No focal disc bulge or disc protrusion is seen.

C5-6 Intervertebral disc spacer is noted in place. A 3.00 mm broad-based disc protrusion is noted resulting in min. to mild central canal stenosis and mild bilateral foraminal stenosis effacement of the anterior thecal sac CSF space is seen.

Can someone please give me your opinion on these findings? Thank you.

Well, let me see if I can help a little.

C2-3 You have drying out of the disc (desiccation)

C3-4 You have drying out of the disc, and also a herniation which is wide at the bottom, and results in minimal central canal stenosis (narrowing of the spinal canal) and minimal right neural foraminal stenosis (the foramen is the hole that the nerves pass thru to get to the spinal cord) - it's getting narrow on the right.

C4-5 You have drying out of the disc

C5-6 A disc spacer is seen and in place. A broad based disc herniation results in minimal to mild central canal stenosis (see above) and mild bilateral foraminal stenosis (see above) effacement of the anterior thecal sac--- the thecal sac is the membrane of dura matter that surrounds the spinal cord & cauda equina. It's filled with cerebral spinal fluid.


I'M NO DOCTOR. But this is a pretty good MRI. From what I see, I don't see any reason for surgery at this time. He may (or may not) want to send you to physical therapy. That might help you with the tingling & shocks that you're getting, plus the numbness. Ask him about therapy!!!

Does he have you on any medication for the numbness & shocks? There IS medication for this kind of thing. Talk to him both about the therapy and the medication, ok?

I wish you the very best. God bless and please take care. Hugs, Lee

No P/T, just some medication (Tramadol).

What kind of surgery was performed on C5-6??? Is there are disc there to have that protrusion or has the graft moved????

They took bone from my hip and put it in to fuse.

Then you have pseudoarthrosis, which means the graft is moving! There should not be a disc protrusion there, as there is no disc. If they see a protrusion at that level and there was a bone graft done and no instrumentation and it wasn't compared to a previous study, then they see it as a disc protrusion, when in actuality it is just the graft that has moved.

Hey Gatorhead -- they usually don't take ALL the disc material. There could be a disc protrusion, right?

A surgeon will usually attempt a partial discechtomy first. Of course, sometimes you are dealing with a torn disc and the entire discal contents slowly drain out.

Wow, I didn't know that if a disc is torn, it drains out. I appreciate your telling me that. Thanks Spiney! Hugs, Lee

Depending on what type they do. I would assume, assume being the key word here lol, that if they used a bone graft then they would need to remove as much material as possible and also scrape and prep the bone so that it is clean and would give the bone the best chance to graft to one another. I know in mine that is how they did it, but I have seen and heard of them doing as you said, leaving some material. In this case I would be inquiring about pseudoarthrosis or mal/non union. Again it is all speculative as it is a forum and I am not a doctor