Researchers are looking for a way to prevent scar tissue after back surgery. This is the first known study to include humans. The treatment for scar tissue build-up is low-dose radiation. The radiation takes place 24 hours before a second operation to remove the scar tissue.
Usually a second operation isn’t even advised. Doctors fear more scar tissue will form and make the problem even worse. Radiation injures the cells that go to work after a specific trauma like surgery. These cells, called fibroblasts, normally rush to the site of trauma and try to repair it. The problem is that too many cells come to help. The resulting dense scar tissue is called fibrosis.
Fibrosis can wrap itself around the spinal nerve and the nearby tissues. Then the nerve can no longer slide and glide in its outer covering. This condition is called tethering. Low-dose radiation to prevent fibrosis has worked well in animal studies. The results of this study show some promise for its use with humans, too.
Five patients were treated with low-dose radiation. Five others were given what looked like radiation treatment, but no radiation was delivered. In the radiation group three patients were pain free and two were had less pain after the treatment. In the control group, three patients were better and two had no change. No one was pain free in the control group.
This study was cut short when a product used in the operation was pulled off the market. The researchers couldn’t treat everyone the same and had to stop the study with only 10 subjects. The study may be redesigned and redone. It appears that in a small group of patients with fibrosis who are having a second operation, low-dose radiation improves the final results.