Quote:
Originally Posted by colorado babe
Harrison,
After reading Lauren's story I am a little concerned about the Prodisc. My doctor is suggesting the ProDisc-L for my three ADR's. Dr. Pettine is an excellent orthosurgeon and is well known within the US and abroad. In reality, I am hoping that my appeal will be approved for the multi-level ADR in the Cervical and I already know in my heart that the Lumbar ADR will be denied. Am I taking chances with the ProDisc-L?
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Dear Colorado Babe, From reading these boards and have multiple surgeries on my spine, here's what I have come up with from reading these boards:
1. ProDisc is one of only a few manufacturers of ADR's that are currently approved by the FDA for use in the U.S.
2. Most people who have had ProDisc placed in them in both the cervical and lumbar spine do quite well.
3. There is always more risk in the lumbar spine with any type of artificial disc, since it bears more weight.
4. Given what I said in number 2 above, when there are ADR problems in the lumbar spine, they seem to take place most often at L5/S1.
If it were me, I would consider the best possible means of ADR for your cervical spine and consider fusion (likely to be covered by insurance) for L5/S1. I would get the opinions of some of the top surgeons in both the U.S. and Europe for your cervical spine. Going overseas has it's positives and negatives. It's likely to cost you a lot of $$ to go overseas with little chance (but not impossible) of insurance reimbursement. You will get a much better quality disc placed in you (Active-L or M6) and get your life back to normal much quicker. The downside is that it will be difficult to see any U.S. doctor for follow-up. There is one exception. Dr. Carl Lauryssen of Beverly Hills, CA works with the M6 disc. He will be doing procedures in Switzerland since he can't do it in the U.S. since it's not FDA approved. If you get the M6 placed in you, he will probably see you in CA for follow-up even if you didn't use him for the initial surgery.
Going back to ProDisc a moment. If you want to go with that, Dr. Zigler and Dr. Blumenthal of the Texas Back Institute have a great reputation using that device. They also do fusions and other minimally invasive surgeries. If you send them your MRI's they will review them and give you their recommendations.
One last thing, as a C.P.A., I can tell you that there are tax deductions available for medical expense paid out of pocket that exceed 10% of your adjusted gross income. If you send me a private message I can go into more detail.
Good luck whichever way you decide to go.
Gene