GELs in future in spine surgery article

[Maria]

Cheryl,
PEG 3350.. know what that is?? Miralax! So I'm using something that's used in a sealant as a laxative! Well I'm sure many things have multiple uses!

In all seriousness, thanks for the info!

[dshobbies]

Just for my own claification - the diseased disc is removed and replaced by only this gel?

If this is true - wow!

[mmglobal]

Removing my INCORRECT comments!

[cherylstewart67]

Originally Posted by dshobbies

Just for my own claification - the diseased disc is removed and replaced by only this gel?

If this is true - wow!

it is used to repair the disc where it stands. it is to keep from having to remove it or at least prolong that.

[mmglobal]

OK... I should have read the entire article!

This will be interesting. If they inject the gel and successfully 'seal' the disc, that will not resolve the issues related to the endplates no longer hydrating the disc and degenerated nucleus material. Will the gel remain as something like a pseudo nucleus?

My guess is that this will be much like so many other of the promising treatments.... that most of us will be too far down the degenerative cascade for this to be effective. I hope I'm wrong.

Mark

[jbcool35]

Anything with poly in front of it probably doesn't belong in the body. Polyurethane and may many other Poly's are known to cause cancer. Why don't they do something like grow us a new disc using our own DNA? They are doing that with heart valves, bladders, etc. When are they gonna get around to us? When are they actually gonna really study things that need to be done? I see a lot of studies and none of them address anything real. It is always ADR or an ancient surgery like fusion.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm not holding my breath! I know I sound negative but look at the world today. Do you think they are really gonna do anything for us? What if the financial system fails? There will be no more pain management, surgeries, studies. Then when this Universal healthcare comes into play, forget it. It will be worse than the VA and medicare put together. That is one of the main reasons I'm tapering my medicine. I'm in pain but I sure don't need any withdrawals adding to it if I can't get my medicine anymore.

Don't mean to bring anyone down. Just another way of looking at things. To me it's just one big cabal. Doctors tend to not cure people just treat their symptoms. There is no money in curing people. Sure there are a select few doctors that try and they get the shaft by the establishment. Especially in the United States where I live.

Just to prove my point. I had a heart doctor even admit that to me. He said i would have to be on Liptior and Lopressor the rest of my life cause it is genetic. I said whatever. After researching it, I found out a low carb diet cured me and I got off all those meds. I told the doctor and he said, ideally that's the kinda diet everyone should follow. So what the heck! They all get kick backs from big pharma to push certain meds and devices. Hard to know what to believe. Sorry about the rant. Just my 2 cents.

[mmglobal]

Why don't they just grow us a new disc? They have been working on that for some time now. My first surgeon's conference was in December 2002 when I went to AAMISMS. (American Academy of Minimally Invasive Spine Medicine & Surgery)

Dr. Bertagnoli showed slides of 'recovered' discs that had been previously degenerated, but were again nicely hydrated and healthy looking. These were following the ADCT procedure in which they harvest your own disc nucleus during a standard micro or endo discectomy, then culture your own cells in a lab. 6 - 12 weeks later, they implant 20,000 times the number of cellls than were harvested.

I was blown away by what I saw and was very excited to see how this was going to pan out. 9 years later, I'm still waiting for the splash.

The technology exists to get your to grow new disc material, but unfortunately, the nucleus is just one component of a system Most of us are too far gone for this procedure to be successful before we even know we have a problem. They are no longer passing water and nutrients to the nucleus in sufficient quantities to keep the nucleus healthy. The 'black disc' or dehydrated disc is a symptom of the entire system failing, not just the nucleus. Replacing the nucleus is not enough.

I have seen case presentations where cadaver discs were havested INCLUDING the vertebral endplates, and impanted into patients with severe DDD. These transplants were successful.



I've had several clients get the procedure done.

[jbcool35]

Sorry, I was just on a rant which I usually don't go on. I apologize, just frustrated. I wasn't aware of that procedure. Thanks for setting me straight though. It give me hope to know they are trying. I hope one day it will come to be.