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Old 04-21-2009, 06:41 PM
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mmglobal mmglobal is offline
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It all depends on what your options are.

If you have a low risk surgery with a high chance of success, your decision is different than if you have a high risk surgery with a low chance of success.

It also depends upon if your options are expected to change with time... will you give up options? (like repairing an oil leak before the engine is ruined by driving without oil)

Note that mild anterolisthesis (or other types of instability) caused by the collapsing disc space (degenerative instability) is not necessarily a contra-indication to motion preservation. If the posterior elements are intact and the instability is expected to resolve based on restoring disc height (thus retentioning the system), then ADR is still a possibility.

Mark
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1997 MVA
2000 L4-5 Microdiscectomy/laminotomy
2001 L5-S1 Micro-d/lami
2002 L4-S1 Charite' ADR - SUCCESS!
2009 C3-C4, C5-C6-C7, T1-T2 ProDisc-C Nova
Summer 2009, more bad thoracic discs!
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