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