Lower levels of vitamin D may put spinal fusion patients at risk, study finds

57% inadequate (< 30 ng)
27% deficient (20 ng)
4% severe deficient (< 10 ng)

The paper, presented Thursday at the North American Spine Society annual meeting,

Buchowski said the idea of checking vitamin D levels of patients first occurred to him in 2008.
A woman in her 40s who had undergone cervical fusion surgery and did not get an adequate fusion told him that she had been treated for a vitamin D deficiency.

"It was like a light bulb went off," he said.
For the last year and a half, all patients undergoing fusion surgery at Washington University have their vitamin D levels checked.

If they are deficient, they will be supplemented with a 50,000 IU prescription dose once a week for eight weeks before their surgery, he said.
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No comment about the co-factors important in making bone:

  Calcium, Magnesium, Vitamin K2, Boron, Silicon

Unfortunately the "prescription dose" is most likely Vitamin D2, which is not nearly as good as Vitamin D3

Charts from [https://www.vitad.org/tiki-index.php?page_id=2138|Vitamin D3 better than D2]

See also Vitamin D Life

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• Should stock-up on vitamin D if having surgery due to fragile bones – Jan 2011
• Hardly any children had enough vitamin D before bone surgery – April 2011
• Osteoporosis medication 7X better when more than 33 ng of vitamin D – June 2011
• Is it ethical to not give vitamin D in osteoporosis trials– NEJM Sept 2010
• Calcium and vitamin D after hip fracture reduced death rate by 25% – Feb 2011
• Low vitamin D before orthopedic surgery – dark skin 5X more likely – Oct 2010
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• Overview Osteoporosis and Vitamin D
• Low levels of vitamin D prior to spine surgery – March 2013
• Spinal fusion improved by vitamin D (no amounts stated in abstract) – Jan 2015
• Spinal non fusion 3.5 X more likely if low vitamin D - July 2015
• Vitamin D needed after most spinal surgeries (and before as well) – 2013

See also Web

• Spinal surgery especially hard with Parkinson's patients who typically are very low on vitamin D