Inbox: How is Wright progressing?

MLB—June 22, 2015

MLB's Anthony DiComo addresses reports that New York Mets' David Wright's spinal stenosis diagnosis is career-ending. 

DiComo explains that he spoke with Hospital for Special Surgery's Frank P. Cammisa, Jr., MD, and Andrew A. Sama, MD, to set the record straight about Wright's diagnosis. DiComo accounts that neither doctor had examined Wright personally, but after being briefed on his condition, their consensus was that it was not necessarily something that should prematurely end Wright's career. 

"You can have stenosis and be pain-free for years," said Dr. Cammisa, chief of spine service at Hospital for Special Surgery. "If you can settle down this incident, he doesn't have to have surgery for it. Whereas in general, if you have significant stenosis in the neck, that causes problems with the function of the cord. Then you have to operate."

"You can manage the pain," said Dr. Sama, the fellowship director of spinal surgical service at HSS. "In older patients, we do surgery. But a lot of treatment is not surgical. You can modify your activity and how you do things."

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