I am so grateful to have discovered this forum and have already learned much. My situation is that I suffered a C5/C6 extrusion in a car accident in 2001; the first neurosurgeon I saw did not want to operate at the time; I recently saw another neurosurgeon who at first offered the option of waiting for approval of the artifical cervical disk but then changed his mind and wanted to immediately schedule a fusion and foraminotomy. My preference is to go with the artificial disk--but I am at a loss as to how to proceed in making contact with surgeons involved with these devices. I am SO impressed in reading the forum with the amount of research and consultations you have all done! How did you proceed in contacting the surgeons? It is also clear that Mark is a wonderful resource in this regard. Any advice you can provide me in how to begin the process would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome!

You might want to start here:

http://www.adrsupport.org/content.asp?cid=182

Sahuaro, there seems to be really great success with one level adr's. There are quite a few centers around the country that are now performing cervical adr's. I had 3 level prodisc surgery 12-04 with Dr. Delamarter in L.A. There are very few doctors who perform 3 levels, but there are a lot more who do one levels. If you have any questions I'd be happy to help.

sahuaro, welcome! I hope we can help...happy to chat some time too...

http://adrsupport.org/groupee_common...icon_smile.gif

Thank you for your replies and welcomes. I am sure I will have many more questions and will be happy to share my experiences as I proceed.
I do have a question stemming from looking at the FAQ: I was surprised to see a thread on Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. I have just been diagnosed with TOS as well but thought that was related to my having had both rotator cuffs surgically repaired (also stemming from the accident). Is there a connection between herniated cervical disks and TOS?

sahuaro, that's a good question. I've spent about 100 hours researching this...I was planning on making a separate post...stay tuned.

Welcome

Hope being here helps!!!