Follow-up in US for post-op ADR

[Jack]

For the folks you went overseas to have adr:

How hard was it to find a specialist in the US to follow you post-op?
Would they be willing to care for post-op complications?

[skip968]

I have a local surgeon who is doing my follow up and would also do revision if necessary.

Depending on where overseas you are planning on going to I would see a surgeon who works with that particular ADR. In North Carolina I believe Spinal Kinetics M6 trials are going on. And Pro Disc should be easy to find, it's FDA approved.

[Jack]

Originally Posted by skip968

I have a local surgeon who is doing my follow up and would also do revision if necessary.

Depending on where overseas you are planning on going to I would see a surgeon who works with that particular ADR. In North Carolina I believe Spinal Kinetics M6 trials are going on. And Pro Disc should be easy to find, it's FDA approved.

I have an appointment with a local neuro guy in a month. I talked to a nurse there. She said the have been able to get single level lumbar discs approved but as of yet not had the opportunity to do two, maybe three. I figure I'll end up either in Germany or India. Hopefully ASAP before it gets cold.

[trkdoc714]

My PCP gave me an initial exam upon returning from Stenum. I had been in contact with one of the surgeons (and patent holder) involved in the Maverick FDA trials. He referred me to a surgeon 100 miles from me that was also involved in the trials. He agreed to do the follow up.

Good luck in your decision,

Bob

[Jack]

I received a response from the same Dr that piglet saw in India. Their initial response was that they generally don't do disc replacement in people over 58 years old. Just missed their cutoff. They did say that once I was there, they would do an exam and determine fusion/vs ADR. I have insurance that would cover fusion and am not likely to go there for a fusion paid out of my pocket. Info I read here was that it is not recommended over 60. I talked to the people at Stenum an they do it up to 80 years old. I wonder why the difference and what the big deal is about age?

[annapurna]

They could be coming from either of two directions: older people tend to have more bone loss and greater likelihood of complicating factors that would lead to lower likelihood of success, or the main complication of fusion, adjacent level damage, is less likely to affect someone who's older and has a lower chance of hanging around long enough for the problem to show up. If you come from a particularly long-lived family, you could argue the point with the first center.

Laura, for instance, comes from a family that mostly makes it beyond 90 or real close to 90 when there's obvious complicating factors like smoking when death was due to cancer. Given that, she's been successful in pressing surgeons for long-term approaches.