Dorsal Root Entry Zone

Treatments, Rehabilitation, and Recovery
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Russian Beauty
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2013 2:11 pm
Injury Description, Date, extent, surgical intervention etc: Auto accident 1/2/07, Crushed my left upper side. To make a long story short I had nerve transplant, Motor Cortex Stimulator implanted in Sept 2008, Muscle & nerve transplant in Oct 2008 (it failed in the OR),. I had my left arm amputated Nov 21, 2008. A perifal nerve stimulator installed early 2009. I have been on numerous drugs. The drugs have been greatly decreased. I am going to have Dorsal Root Entry Zone surgery Jan 24,2013. The spasms & pain I have in my left arm have gone from mostly evenings to morning, noon & night.

Has anyone had this surgery? Has it worked? This is my last hope for some quality of life.

Dorsal Root Entry Zone

Post by Russian Beauty »

] Has anyone had DREZ surgery? Did it work?
MW
Posts: 81
Joined: Fri Jun 19, 2009 6:13 pm
Injury Description, Date, extent, surgical intervention etc: LTBPI, Feb 2009, hit by truck while on a run. Free muscle transfer at Mayo Clinic 6 months later.
Location: Chicago, IL

Re: Dorsal Root Entry Zone

Post by MW »

Hi Russian,

I have not but I'd definitely like to hear about your experience and result if you are having it done this month!

MW
Colin
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:37 pm
Injury Description, Date, extent, surgical intervention etc: TBPI suffered playing Semi-pro football in June 2006 in Toronto. I avulsed C3 -T1 nerves from making a tackle during my game. I actually lost all feeling from the neck down but after 30 minutes of laying motionless I regained everything except my left arm. I had a nerve transfer done in December 06 and that did not work. So in February 08 I had the DREZ surgery done to kill the pain. That made things worse and i also lost some of the feeling in my left due to that surgery.

Re: Dorsal Root Entry Zone

Post by Colin »

Hi Russian,

I suffered my brachial plexus injury in June 2006 in the course of a football game. I tore my C3 to T1 nerves. I did one nerve transfer surgery and it failed. In February 2009 i had the DREZ surgery done thinking that it would help with the pain. It did in fact help for about a week then then pain came back worse then before. On top of the i ended up with a Harrington rod placed on my spine cause they said my neck would eventually fall to one side. On top of the rod i had to learn to walk again cause during the operation some how my left leg was affected needless to say i can walk but my leg never will be the same again. My advice is DON'T DO IT but that's from my experience. I hope this will shed some light on this for you..
Russian Beauty
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2013 2:11 pm
Injury Description, Date, extent, surgical intervention etc: Auto accident 1/2/07, Crushed my left upper side. To make a long story short I had nerve transplant, Motor Cortex Stimulator implanted in Sept 2008, Muscle & nerve transplant in Oct 2008 (it failed in the OR),. I had my left arm amputated Nov 21, 2008. A perifal nerve stimulator installed early 2009. I have been on numerous drugs. The drugs have been greatly decreased. I am going to have Dorsal Root Entry Zone surgery Jan 24,2013. The spasms & pain I have in my left arm have gone from mostly evenings to morning, noon & night.

Has anyone had this surgery? Has it worked? This is my last hope for some quality of life.

Re: Dorsal Root Entry Zone

Post by Russian Beauty »

I'm sorry to hear your experience went so poorly. I have been through so much with nerve grafts, muscle & nerve transplant from my right leg to left arm. (Failed during 12 hours into surgery. No blood flow.) I now have so much fluid in my right leg I can't even find low height winter boots., I live in NH. Winter boots are necessary.

With 2 implants, a slew of drugs and a decreased life I'm willing to take the final step of DREZ surgerry. DR Eskandar at MGH is confident this will be successful. He is a Neurosurgeon at the Massachusetts General Hospital and an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. He specializes in the treatment of Epilepsy, Movement Disorders, Trigeminal Neuralgia, along with Brain and Spine TumorsMy

My ability to enjoy life has decreased over the past 6 years. Granted 2007 was a non existent life. However in 2008 - Oct 2012 I felt confident driving locally. I took my dog to the dog park for 1 - 2 hours each day. Now I barely leave my house. The spasms & pain used to start from 4:30 PM om. Now it's morning noon & night. My spasms can be extremely violent. The pain level if off the charts.

The implants worked for awhile. Each time my drugs were increased or decreased the adjustment worked for awhile. Now nothing is working. I know this is my last chance but I don't see any other option.

I will keep you posted on my success. Positive attitude is essential.
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