[annapurna]

I'll offer what I can - You're correct. These surgeries don't offer any warranties. For a while there was a debate about foreign surgeons and the inability to sue them for malpractice. Laura and I decided that suing anyone for malpractice was a whole lot less satisfying than seeking the best surgeon to get it right the first time. Of course, that was at a time when a German surgeon might have complete 300+ ADRs and a US surgeon was in the realm of 15-30, so the gap in experience was significant.

Now, you can find US surgeons who have the same or nearly the same total surgery counts as the Europeans. My personal feeling is to continue to pursue the Europeans but that's my opinion and draws more from my concerns over the power that insurance companies have over the standard of care in the US than any worry about surgeon skill.

As for stenosis - I would suggest that you talk it over the with the surgeons. DO NOT consider handing money to any surgeon, US or European, if you can't get a consult with them prior to committing to surgery. You may have to pay for the consult but anyone reasonably ethical should be willing to have the surgeon speak with you before committing to surgery. If you can't get them to talk with you before you hand them serious money, you're not going to get answers from them after the money's changed hands.

Another concern about European surgeons - some offices are notoriously bad at communications, especially post-op. US offices are as well but you have the advantage of sharing a language and being on the same or similar timezones. Don't pursue a European surgeon if you're not willing to do a bit of chasing to get them to talk with you.