David’s story
Cervical stenosis with myelopathy, ACDF
Spine surgery helps David regain use of his hands
David enjoys cooking, especially at Thanksgiving. But preparing the dinner became difficult when he was unable to peel potatoes.
Starting from a dull pain in his shoulder blades, weakness and numbness had traveled down his arms into both hands. Eventually, David couldn't button his shirt. He couldn't make a fist. To turn a doorknob at his office, he had to use both hands.
"It just kept getting worse and worse," David says now. "There was an achy kind of pain, but it wasn't debilitating. My inability to do things was debilitating."
The problem stemmed from David's cervical spine, at the base of his neck. The bony canal where the nerves and spinal cords pass had narrowed, a condition called spinal stenosis, and several discs were impinging on the nearby nerves.
A primary care doctor had previously taken a family member to Mayfield Brain & Spine and recommended that for David as well. He traveled from his Centerville home to Mayfield's West Chester office, where he met Dr. Brad Curt, a neurosurgeon and spine specialist. David tried some physical therapy, but after several weeks, it became obvious that it wasn't going to solve the problem.
At left, David's imaging showing discs compressing the spinal cord from the C3 to C7 levels of his neck. Center and right imaging, shows David's neck post surgery
"David's imaging clearly showed that discs were compressing and damaging his spinal cord from the C3 to C7 levels of his neck, causing cervical myelopathy," Dr. Curt says. "That's the condition where the spinal cord progressively loses function, usually resulting in loss of hand sensation, diminished strength and dexterity, and changes in balance. Once he started to lose function in his hands, those symptoms indicated that surgery was necessary."
As he approached surgery, David got more nervous.
"I was anxious," he says. "I didn't know what option I had at that point. I just wasn't able to do day-to-day kinds of things."
David went into surgery on the morning of his 31st wedding anniversary. To reduce the irritation from the protruding discs, Dr. Curt recommended a global solution. He removed the discs at four levels of David's cervical spine, from C3 to C7. He then inserted bone graft that could naturally heal and build strength and fused the vertebrae together, using rods and screws to stabilize the entire area. The procedure is called an anterior cervical discectomy and fusion, or ACDF.
"Our first goal was to take the pressure off the nerves leading to David's arms, allowing him to regain full function in his hands," Dr. Curt says. "Once we stabilized the damaged portion of the cervical spine, we were able to address his severe spinal stenosis. Decompressing those nerves by creating more space in the spinal canal will reduce the chances for additional problems."
The morning after the surgery, David woke up and was able to make a fist. Dr. Curt counseled him to be patient. He went back to work after about five weeks, and it's taken him nine months to rebuild his strength, helped by physical therapy at Mayfield's new Springboro office.
Today, David wants to say "thank you" to Dr. Curt and the medical staff at Mayfield for allowing him to do some of the things he might have once taken for granted.
"It's a tremendous relief," David says, "because as you are losing the ability to do things, you wonder if you're ever going to be able to do them again."
~ Cliff Peale
Hope Story Disclaimer -"David's Story" is about one patient's health-care experience. Please bear in mind that because every patient is unique, individual patients may respond to treatment in different ways. Results are influenced by many factors and may vary from patient to patient.
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