It has been 1 year since my surgery and I still get muscle spasms in my neck and right shoulder. My surgeon said I fused well and that if I wanted he could go in and take out the plate and 4 screws. Is this normal after ACDF - has anyone else had them removed?:

I don't know, but I wish it were standard procedure. Most patients (and some doctors) don't realize it, but surgical hardware can corrode/rust within the human body, and it doesn't take all that long. It makes me wonder if that isn't the problem when some folks were fine for a few years and come back with terrible pain with no explanation. Part of the problem is, it's almost impossible to tell without physically examing the hardware, and that means opening up the patient again, which no-one wants to do.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/post893434-34.html

http://www.fixscoliosis.com/question...s-rusting.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2219664/

https://www.electrochem.org/dl/inter...u08_p31-34.pdf

Doc

thanks for the info, I think I'm going to have them take the plate and 4 screws out

After my previous response, I got a little curious; I only found one other person on this site who had this done.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...d.php?p=636191

You may have done a similar search to this(?)

acdf removing hardware

From some of those discussions, some say the hardware is only removed if there's a problem, some say their surgeons did it as a matter of course, some were removed during subsequent acdf procedures (adjacent segment degeneration), and some just left the hardware in. This is anecdotal only; I didn't find/see any statistics, but I did find this short video:

Do you need to remove your hardware from a spinal fusion after the spine fuses?

Best wishes for a complete & painless recovery,

Doc

Hi nicodf,i had same surgery 2yrs ago ended up with failed surgery.You know since if it has fused like mine did that was not the problem,as far as removing hardware unless it shows on mri causing any obstructions no need to remove i have mine in.Find out what material was used to fuse,if it was infuse BMP-2 you have a problem ask your surgeon for ops record.

Hello Dr Smith, as far as hardware corroding i had asked my surgeon before my first back fusion the same question he said no,all spinal fusion are made with titanium hardware and will not rust.