spinecenter.com
Potential Complications and their Avoidance:
•Operating wrong level:
–A major
complication of all spine
surgery
–Avoided by using
digital C-arm fluoroscopy
for accurate anatomic
localization
–Provocative
discogram verifies level
•Dural Tear:
–Gross dural tear very rare
–Dural injury
evidenced by spinal headache
and presumed csf leak
(less than 1%)
–No surgery required
to repair a CSF
leak
–Spinal headache
responds to epidural
blood patch
2
4
6
8
10
12
13
1
T10
T12
T10 and T12 disc
herniation in a 13 thoracic vertebra
case not T9 and T11 as referred
originally
24 year old male with increasing
thoracic radicular pain and 13
ribs