Dr Adriaan Liebenberg My Spine Explained | Page 40

My Spine Explained
What are the long-term expectations?
In cases where the symptoms improve with decompressive surgery, the symp-
toms may reappear at some stage. In patients where the nerves have been
damaged permanently, the dysfunction of the nerves (numbness, pain and
weakness) may not clear up.
In patients where the operation successfully treated the symptoms, ongoing
spinal degeneration may lead to pathology of the adjacent (or a distant) spinal
level resulting in future surgery on that level. This is believed to be a process
that, even though part of the normal ageing process, is accelerated by surgery.
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