[CharlesinCharge]

Bob,

Many on this site criticize Stenum (and with reason), though people like Terry and I had our ADR surgery done successfully there. One thing I will mention is that they do not look at the condition of your facet joints, and do not seem to care. Their solution to all patients with DDD is ADR surgery, they never discussed my facets (or with any of the other patients in my group). I have seen people on this board that got ADR surgery with facet arthropathy and greatly lived to regret it, as their post surgery pain was so bad they were forced to have the implant removed. If you stateside doctor has recommended not having ADR because of the condition of your facets, don't expect Stenum to let that stop them.

In my humble opinion, you need further consultations. Dr. Zeegers and Dr. Bertagnoli in Germany seem to be more thorough than Stenum and will look at your facets, though unlike many on this board I don't know that their skills at implanting artificial discs are any better than the surgeon I had at Stenum (who has done over 1,300 ADR surgeries). You can also talk to some ADR surgeons stateside, not with the plan of using them (as the cost will be much higher than Germany and their experience may be less) but to have them take a closer look at your facet joints and see if that will exclude you from ADR. I have never heard of Stenum turning anyone down due to facet joint issues. I feel that Terry and I dodged a bullet on that one, but you have the chance to be proactive here and avoid that by getting multiple opinions.