United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hello to everyone in BPI land! Just thought that I would say hey, and that I had DREZ surgery 6 months or so ago, by Dr. Osenbach at Duke. I must tell you that I've never felt better and that it's the first time I've "not" had terrible shooting, pins and needles type of aching pain in my right arm, in 25 years... I only wish I had done it a long time ago. So I just wanted to say that Dr. Osenbach at Duke university is "The Best" and I would tell anybody thats suffering as badly as I was, see him asap and he will tell you strait up if he can help you..
kindest regards,
Captain Nitro...going out on my boat right now!

I am glad ot hear this! It is always great when we hear of a fellow family member getting relief! YEAH!

COurt xx

Great news! Enjoy your boating.....:0)

Hey Cap,
That's great news it worked out so well for you. BUTTT...I got questions (if thats okay with you). Were there side effects? Were they temporary or permanent? If temporary, how long did they last? Was the pain relief immediate? Why don't sharks sleep? Sorry, forget that last one. Happy boating captain, may the wind be always at your back...Karl...

Yo Matey!

It was "immediate"... After the procedure, I was in killer neck pain, not right arm pain, but neck pain due to the fact he cracked open 4 vertibra like they were stone crab claws! But that slowly went away 4 - 6 weeks later. As for side effects? Well I did have one, I was so afraid that the pins&needles pain would come back, I had a hard time sleeping at first.. I thought that if I went to sleep I would wake up and that @#$% would be there.. but it has been 7 or 8 months and I'm feeling so good, it's hard to put into words. And certain sharks do "sleep" stopped at the bottom on the ocean floor aka nurse and lemmon..
Hope you are in good spirits 'cause I'm feeling great!
Captain Nitro..

Great NEWS!!! Congrats!!!

I had a DREZ 3 years ago by Dr. Belzberg and have been ever so pleased since. I was considering suicide at one point from the severe pain and I can't thank my internist enough for finally finding a doctor who knew what to do for me.

The DREZ is not for everyone and does have significant risk to it. For those who have an avulsion injury and pain from that, it is an excellent procedure.

Looking for all and any input from experienced DREZ patience.

Captain Nitro, any changes since your operation? I've heard of pain returning w/avengence to a worse degree, I pray you're still happy w/your reduction of pain levels?

What was your level of pain before on the 1-10 scale, and what has it been post surgery? For me a 10 is passing out, 5 is getting hard to see anything but/thru the pain, and 1 is mom still trying to mother me at 36 yrs old (which is pretty painful).

What are the exact details of the surgery? The spinal cord is exposed to remove the scar tissue?

I'm just getting off all meds and am researching any other options.

Dr. Carlsted in London told me he is trying to re-implant sensory nerves with stem cells to the spinal cord to alleviate BPI pain, but results aren't out yet I guess.

Hope you're pain free

Chris

I am soooo happy to hear your results from the DREZ procedure!!! I can't imagine being able to focus on a person's conversation and not have to ask them to repeat what they said because the pain is so severe. I could go on and on. I am wondering Captain, how long you suffered before deciding to take the DREZ dive?! I went to see Dr.Belzberg about it but got scared. I'm beginning to re-think it. It is so hard to work each day with awful pain trying to meet deadlines. I am seriously reaching my limit. I go next week for an appt to do a spinal cord stimulator trial. Anyone have any thoughts on the SCS???????

Thought I'd post this study on DREZ surgery...

http://jnnp.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content ... t/57/6/737

Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 1994, Vol 57, 737-738

Long-term follow up of dorsal root entry zone lesions in brachial plexus avulsion

DG Thomas and ND Kitchen
Gough-Cooper Department of Neurological Surgery, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, UK.

The long-term results of 44 patients who underwent dorsal route entry zone (DREZ) lesioning for pain secondary to brachial plexus avulsion are reported with a mean clinical follow up period of 63 months. The postoperative analgesic effect was judged by the patients as being good (greater than 75% pain reduction), fair (25-75% pain reduction), or poor (0-25% pain reduction). With these criteria 35 patients (77%) had continuing good (30 cases, 68%) or fair (five cases, 11%) pain relief at the time of final follow up. Eight cases (18%) had persisting neurological deficits, although these were generally mild. DREZ thermocoagulation is an effective procedure for relieving deafferentation pain. The analgesic effect which is produced in the early postoperative period seems to be maintained in the long-term.

could you give a follow up report on how you're doing? My son is in Phoenix. Anyone know of a neurosurgeon that does this proceedure in the southwest? Thanks, Michele