This is an actual photo brought in by one of our patients in May of 2005 of hardware that was implanted, then removed from the spine of one of his friends.  15-3 inch bolts, 2 rods, and 2 brackets were installed in an attempt to fuse his spine, but the patient became infected as a result of the surgery, and after his spinal bones literally liquified from the infection, all of the hardware had to be removed!  The rods were literally cut with bolt cutters, and the surgeon did not even take the time to file the sharp edges off the metal before screwing them to his spine.

This type of disaster happens so frequently, that there is actually a diagnosis code for "Failed Back Surgery Syndrome".  The success rate of spinal surgery is estimated to be about 50%, and approximately 80% of all spinal surgeries are deemed to be completely unnecessary!