Scar Tissue

General
1

Has anyone had surgery to check if scar tissue has built up?

I am 13 years post-op. I had the surgery for Chiari 1 when i was 12 years old. Up until the past 6 months i had NO problems post-op. however all of symptoms and many new ones have returned worse than before.

I met with my neurosurgeon last week and he looked at my MRI’s and said he did not see any abnormalities on the MRI’s. He believes scar tissue could be causing my reoccuring symptoms. He explained that scar tissue does not show up on MRI’s. He said the only way to find out if it scar tissue or not is to do surgery check. He would open me up and if there is no scar tissue they would close me back up, if there is he would remove it. He also recommended me to a neurologist to chevk for anything else that could be causing my symptoms before i have to make the decision to have surgery or not again.

At this point i have no idea what to do. What if i have the surgery and there ends up there not being any scar tissue!?! Has anyone else had experience with this? Anyone had the surgery to check for scar tissue or not? What were your results? Id appreciate any feedback!

2

Dear Gretchen..

1st of all...I just love your name!!! Very cool and not that common! Had to just tell ya that 1st!

Ok, here is my experiences with scar tissue that develops and caused me pain...however, it was not from my decompression surgery..but , the same rationale is used regarding scar tissue caused from any surgery.

How is had been explained to me is this: With each surgery done there is the risk and that risk is fairly high...of scar tissue developing. The process of this scar tissue developing happens quickly...many patients have this but it does not bother them...reasons for that is not very clear..

Here is the thing..like your doctor said...scar tissue cannot be seen via MRI or other scans/x-rays...Let me clarify, at least my doc said it could not be seen by MRI or CT...so I am assuming and x-ray would not show it(?).

If the tissue is removed...you are a risk of the return of the scar tissue...it is a vicious cycle...I would hate to see you go through a major surgery to remove the scar tissue only to have more and sometimes ..even more scar tissue come back in future..causing you even more problems, ya know??

My doc told me that even with him going in and taking out the tissue..'by the time you make it home from the hospital there is a very good chance scar tissue is starting to grown!'..WHAT????

There is a new product out that my surgeon used Jan 2013 when he removed the scar tissue for me....(abdominal , due to past surgeries, one being the removal of scar tissue!) there is this 'product ' he explained that helps retard the growth of scar tissue growth, re said he gives it a pretty good rating from his past patient outcomes when using this on them.

I chose to have mine removed from my belly, as it was a breeze...in and out of the hospital that same day and I went about my business once the anestesia (sp!!) wore off..sore..but no biggie...NOW..if I had to think about my head....I would check out all other avenues first.

Just a suggestion..can you ask your NS if it is possible to use that 'product' my surgeon used on my stomach ?? I am not sure it is safe for the head, ya know??

Sorry this is so long..Would you mind replying back and listing your current symptoms here...in hopes others can share their experiences and treatments, ect...thanks and best of luck...we are all in this together!!!

Lori

3

Good advice here from the girls. I want to second what Mandy said about your c-spine. If you have EDS (are you hypermobile?) your vertebrae can move and compress your spinal cord all over again. So sorry the symptoms have been back Gretchen. Also, did you have a duraplasty? Did you get a plate on the back of your head?

4

Thank you so much for the replies! I’m fairly new to all this and it really is nice to have somewhere to discuss all this! To answer some of your questions… I do not have EDS. I was just decompressed for Chiari 1. I dont know if this has any relevance to this subject but i do know that my Chiari was not your typical length wise; it wasnt as long as most but was very wide. Again dont know if that has any relevance!

As for my symptoms; oh gosh where do i start! Like i said before i went 13 years with NO symptoms and then the past 5-6 months; boom they’re all back, plus many more! The last month in particular they have gotten so much worse so quickly!

-frequent headaches (that keep me in bed all day) im back of neck and radiate into behind the eyes.

  • excessive amounts of sleep and trouble waking
  • numbness/ tingling in hands and feet
  • strange feelings in head; it almost feels like how you do hen you get motion sickness.
  • balance/ coordination problems. Running into things
    -brain feels like it is a rattle inside my head
    -feeling of pressure in head/back of neck
  • VERY foggy brain.
  • lastly; there have been 2 times now where i have had almost mini seizures. My head just uncontrollably shakes repetively in like the nodding yes position. Hard to describe in words!
5

My doctor does CINE MRI if you are having post op symptoms. That lets him know if scar tissue or anythign else is blocking CSF flow. If that was negative and things were still progressing then I suppose surgery might be the next step. I would be worried about starting a cycle like Lori suggested where they remove it and then more grows back.

6

I am a little over a year post op and having symptoms. I am scheduled this Friday for an MRI and MRA to see if there is a build up of scar tissue........weird since your doc says that it doesn't show up on imaging.......According to my ns scar tissue is the only explanation to have recurring symptoms, although he says that he highly doubts that in a year that much scar tissue would be present to cause any symptoms. Yes, I don't think he believes that I'm having symptoms at all. Oh well, that's something we deal with all the time though.

7

Just an F Y I…
I recently began going to a Planet fitness. They have what they call a Total Body Enhancement. It’s Infrared light…
I’ve had Numerous breast reconstruction surgeries and have had a large amount of VERY HARD Scar tissue.
I made an apt to see Surgeon because it became too painful…Anyhow, I went into the Total body enhancement ,it’s like a stand up tanning bed, except with infrared…
It 12 minutes that’s not long ! The scar tissue SOFTENED! After just the 1 12 minute session ! Mind blowing !

Just saying if you have scar tissue. Also it has lightened my scars .ive been in it a total of 2 times now ! WOW !

Good luck to you
Blessings