Failed Back Surgery (FBS)

After spine surgery, you expect your back or neck problem to be resolved. But, sometimes, that doesn’t happen. Whether immediately or months after your procedure, pain and other symptoms may return—a phenomenon known as failed back surgery (FBS) or failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS).

How does this happen?
Failed back surgery refers to the circumstance in which a person has had spine surgery that has not resulted in adequate pain relief. In other words, you and your surgeon’s expected surgery outcome—that your spine pain would be minimized or eliminated—didn’t happen.

  • In addition to chronic back pain, other symptoms of failed back surgery include neurological symptoms (eg, numbness, weakness, tingling sensations), leg pain, and radicular pain (pain that spreads from one area of the body to another, such as from your neck down to your arm).

  • In addition to reducing your pain, you may have expected spine surgery to impact other facets of your life. Improving your function, quality of life, and ease of daily activities all impact the definition of surgery success. Understanding how your life looks after surgery will help your doctor understand whether your pain is related to FBS.

How is it found?
To be diagnosed with FBS, your doctor must be able to link your current spinal problem to your previous spinal surgery. For example: If you have back pain four years after your spine surgery, your doctor may find that the cause of your new pain is wear and tear on your spine due to aging (eg, degenerative changes), not your previous surgery.

How can this be treated?
The treatment for Failed Back Surgery is based on the underlying cause of your symptoms. Your Spine surgeon will work with you to find the cause of FBS and discuss the most appropriate treatment options.

Common treatment options for FBS include:

  • Physical therapy

  • Spinal injections

  • Revision surgery

  • Operating on affected adjacent segments of the spine

This is the doctor you want!
Dr. Mathew Cyriac is our Chief of Adult Spine. He’s a fellowship trained, orthopaedic surgeon. Dr. Cyriac is an expert in extreme lateral interbody fusion (XLIF) which is a minimally invasive procedure performed through the side of the body to treat spinal disorders and reduce long-term back or leg pain. Dr. Cyriac is willing to tackle some of the most complex spine problems.