New to ADR - considering surgery in April

[Boxer78]

I know they all get commission on scheduling surgeries but I feel like they truly believe that ADR is the best option for most of us. I know that Bierstedt has come to the states to do seminars and meet potential patients and I would only listen to his medical opinion and disregard his liaisons. I still would like to see more of Bierstedt patient outcomes as their are only two on this site but both have done great, one is a 3 level and other is a single level.

[JPJH]

I had Dr. Clavel do a 2 level Cervical ADR on me in 2010. Had great success. Main reasons I chose him was his experience, fact he was a Nurosurgeon not an Orthopedic surgeon. Then the Quiron Hospital where he does the surergy is top notch, very modern and up-to-date medical equiptment. Plus for your pre and post stay you have the beautiful city of Barcelona to play in. My wife and I just bought metro passes and rode it all over the city. That was only two days after my surgery with Dr. Clavel. No regrets. I would go back to him without hesitation if I needed another spine surgery.

[NJ Gene]

Originally Posted by Boxer78

I know they all get commission on scheduling surgeries but I feel like they truly believe that ADR is the best option for most of us. I know that Bierstedt has come to the states to do seminars and meet potential patients and I would only listen to his medical opinion and disregard his liaisons. I still would like to see more of Bierstedt patient outcomes as their are only two on this site but both have done great, one is a 3 level and other is a single level.

Boxer, I agree with you 100%. Dr. Bierstedt's liaison's may truly believe that ADR is best for most patients. However, they are not physicians and should not be giving us their opinions as non-medical professionals. Regardless of them, I believe that Dr. Bierstedt is one of the best ADR surgeons to choose from. I also agree that they need to have more patient testimonials. Dr. Ritter-Lang's site has quite a few of them. The problem with him is that you don't see the small % of negative outcomes, which I've read about on various posts in this forum. He performs 5 to 6 surgeries per day. Many patients refer to going to using him as being part of an assembly-line. Sue Hart, his main liaison, defends this as normal for a senior surgeon. There I disagree. From what I've read, Dr Bierstedt, Dr. Clavel, and Mr. Dare only perform 2 to 3 surgeries per day. I believe that taking one's time leads to better outcomes. This is especially true when you are spending an average of $40K out-of-pocket to have this surgery done.

Gene

[Boxer78]

Yup total agreement. I always demand to speak with the doctor for anything related to diagnosis or surgery period. I'm speaking w clavel for the second time this week and hopefully Bierstedt and lauryssen also by end of the week

[SpineInSecurity]

My question would be when does "taking one's time" cross the line into "wasting time"? I looked at my pre-op scribbles and notes, and my neurosurgeon generally does 4-5 procedures on surgery days.

Another of my doctors has seen my neurosurgeon and his team in action, and he likened them to a silent NASCAR pit crew where the surgeon rarely had to ask for anything and everything is almost done by muscle memory. Instruments and materials were in hand and ready for the surgeon without being called for.

For something as highly technical as an ADR, I'm glad they're able to work like this, rather than having to ask "is this enough?" or "which one is the medium trial?"

[Boxer78]

It's an interesting conversation but just because a surgeon is comfortable and could prob do a procedure w his eyes closed doesn't mean he shouldn't take his time. I've been reading lately about iliac cuts and other surgical errors by high level surgeons that may not have happen if he would have slowed down a little. The problem w this ADR procedure is that once its done it's done. Revisions are life threatening and surgical error are a death sentence. If the placement is off (and I've seen many of these) your life is essentially over. It's enough to worry about how long the disc will last minus a surgical mistake or a bad placement or even a poor selection of disc size or height or even lordosis angle. All these things are keeping me from pulling the trigger because this is a one shot deal

[walterwhite]

Originally Posted by afhstock

Hello everyone,
Mr. David Harrison (spine surgeon) in the UK at BMI-Princess Margaret Hospital. He's hardly mentioned here but he's had decades of experience with the older type discs and has done approx 70+ M6's both cervical and lumbar. He has also performed an M6-L on Retief Goosen (I'll provide a link later) who's a pro golfer at the L3-4 level. He returned to pro golf tours at 5 months amazingly. Of course that level is not as stressed as the lowers.

Copied from previous post:
I would not recommend Mr David Harrison personally. The joke about spinal surgeons thinking they are gods is likely modelled on this man. He may or may not be a good surgeon but my impression having met him and been under his care is he's more interested in celebrity than patients. His secretary is his wife and she is the passive aggressive type. This duo was an unhappy experience for me and other doctors share this view when asked candidly. Back surgery rarely goes perfectly. It's at that point you want to be with a down to earth guy not a t***

I am not wanting to trash a doctor - he may well have had some great results and obviously has experience. In fact his depth of experience (quantity) could well be the root cause for what I consider arrogance. But I really feel strongly about this man. i feel strongly that as patients we need to bring a bit of the power back to our side.

As he is not here to defend himself, I won't go any further than the above. But I promised myself that once I had my operation, I would not be intimidated to share my view of Mr Harrison with patients considering surgery.