radiopaque spacer

shodobe · Feb 15, 2004

ok........educate me.........I had an ACDF and the neurosurgeon was suppost to utilize a allograft as we had discussed.I have been having problems since surgery and all my xrays say there is no cadaver bone in my neck....only a radiopaque spacer that is some kinda synthetic device?what is a radiopaque spacer?And why would my Neurosurgeon put something like that in my neck when we had agreed on a allograft.I have now found out that the hosp I had surgery in is involved in some kinda biomedical research......so can he legally switch to this device without asking me?

As far as I know the answer is NO! The problem might be in the surgery consent because if the hospital is involved in research then there might be something in the consent which gives them the option to use whatever. The surgeon should have also informed you that there was a posibilty this might occur. You should have had a complete informed consent given to you by your surgeon. I would definitely talk with your surgeon and bring up this concern and also you might request a copy of your hospital records to check the consent. Read each line very carefully because it might be buried under alot of legalese. Also I don't get involved to much with ACDF, I know in the past they used "cages" that had bone stuffed in them like a canoli. If this is the case then the only thing that would show up in an x-ray would be the "cage" or the spacer. Hopefully you will get some answers from the Neuro OR nurses. Good luck, Mike