Surgeon experience
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/544903
I found this article very helpful when I was trying to decide on a surgeon. Hardware positioning is critical, so it stands to reason that the more experience one has with the technique, the better the results. This article discusses not just outcome but operative time, blood loss, complication rates, etc.
Also, I think you meant that you need a bone density study (DEXA) rather than a bone scan, which is the term for a nuclear medicine study to evaluate for bone lesions such as stress fractures, infections, or tumors. Medicine has its own vocabulary, and radiology has a more specialized set of terms that even other doctors can't keep straight. 
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L5-S1 rupture 11/04, left leg pain for 2 wks
Regular exercise/pain-free until 2007
L5-S1 degen. disease w/constant pain since 6/07
PT, ESI, SI jt injections, 3-level nerve root inj. x 2
Massage, heat, ice, TENS, etc
L5-S1 Charite Jan. 19th, 2009, very happy w/decision
New back pain in upper back though.
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