Re:Surgery, the Ultimate Placebo
by calvano915 on Sunday December 20, 2020 @10:25AM
(#25486837)
Unnecessary/ineffective fusions are still happening all the time. My Gf is a PT and unfortunately had to work for one of the surgeons for a time, as recent as 2 years ago. So perhaps this is a regional issue, but there's still not much pushback from payers in hundreds of cases yearly. Perhaps 2020 may be different due to COVID reducing procedures in general.
Spondylosis (vertebrae wear) has a primary cause, which is more often than not a herniated disc above or below that vertebra.
Unless there is some extreme space constraint most Orthopedists or Neurosurgeons would attempt an artificial disc replacement prosthesis instead of vertrebra fusion.