Question
hi thank you so much for your previous answer but i just wanted to ask.
would you suggest that my mum would need emergency surgery or will she have to wait?

the previous question can be found here
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Spinal-Decompression-3979/2013/3/mri-results-surgery-


thanks again

Answer
Hannah ~

The word "emergency" is difficult to define. For some misplacing car keys is an emergency but another may view a hurricane as simply an inconvenient rain storm. If your mum can be made comfortable with medications, heat packs, and bed rest - and you can be there to assist with activities of daily living, then perhaps she could wait until the acute pain subsides and get a second opinion. Two things worried me about your earlier report. The first is the difficulties you described using the toilet. If by this you mean she suffers more pain due to the fact that it requires physical effort to move from the bedroom to the bathroom that is one thing. However, if she is actually losing bowel or bladder function as a result of the pressure on the spinal cord that is quite another thing and is generally considered a medical emergency. The second is the MRI description of the "large inferiorly extruded disc fragment". Spinal Decompression therapy was developed to actually and literally "suck" protruding disc material back inside a disc by creating a vacuum or negative pressure with a specially designed hydraulic, computerized table similar in some respects to old-style traction. With this therapy many, many surgeries can be avoided. But, a fragment by definition means that a piece of the extruded disc maaterial has actually broken off and although smaller fragments may eventually be re-absorbed if the patient can wait it out in my experience a fragment as large as this will likely have to be removed by a surgeon.

As always, a thorough examination leading to a second opinion can be instructive.