Side effects and response to the surgery
Although discectomy can be the only possible treatment in many cases, its response can vary widely. In most cases, patients’ symptoms improve, and they can resume their normal lives, but in others, symptoms can still persist. There is a clear line as to who will respond and who will not. It is generally thought that the longer a patient suffers from sciatica and the more severe their symptoms, the less likely it is that they will recover following surgery. Recurrence of symptoms after resolution following surgery has been attributed to strenuous exercise during recovery. Unfortunately, for those patients who have a recurrent disc herniation, the probability that the condition will improve on surgery is less likely.
One of the most concerning thoughts of patients undergoing spine surgery is the side effects. Many patients think that such surgery puts their mobility at risk. However, this is not the case because the commonly operated upon the region of the vertebral column -lumbar spine- does not have a spinal cord. The spinal cord terminated before reaching the lumbar spine and it is very rare to injure the cauda equina in spine surgery. Endoscopic surgery has even made it safer with fewer patients complaining of post-operative pain. Many endoscopic surgeries are even done in an outpatient setting without the need for general anesthesia with its side effects.
Side effects of the surgery include:
- Post-operative pain: This is the commonest side effect of any surgery. After all, any surgery involves incisions that, however carefully placed and sutured, remain a wound that needs healing. Post-operative pain is treated by analgesics and usually improves within days of the operation.
- Persistence of symptoms: Persistence of symptoms for one or two days following the operation does not mean that the operation had failed. The nerve that was being compressed for months is unlikely to heal and resume its function in a few hours. Waiting for a few days and regularly informing your surgeon of your symptoms on follow-up will show the success of your operation.
- Infection: Infection is one of the complications of any operation. It is rare nowadays owing to the operations of the sterile techniques are being done with as well as the use of antibiotics. If infection occurs it can interfere with wound healing and rapid treatment is a must.
- Blood clots: Blood clots had been a common complication of many surgeries in the past, but the use of anticoagulants following surgery and during hospital stay has significantly reduced it. Leg blood clots are the commonest and manifest by leg swelling and pain, commonly in one limb.
- Nerve injury: According to the level of surgery, there is a varying risk of injury to nerves during the operation. Such injury varies from a simple contusion that heals with time to a severe laceration requiring further therapy. This can result in chronic pain or muscle weakness. It is very rare for such injuries to be permanent.