[LBP]

I wrote a whole post and then noticed you're in Canada!

prodisc in the US was approved for 1 level in august last year...we are waiting for the fda to approve the 2 level part of the prodisc study, hoping it will be soon.

So far prodisc is the only disc that has done a multi level lumbar disc clinical trial in US.

The "investigational and experimental" is a load of crap for US ins companies. If we were federal employees d...the federal gov't forces private insurance companies to pay for it because they have determined that ins companies can no longer say an fda approved device is "experimental and investigational." the rest of us get jerked around. US Medicare recently took a baby step towards approving coverage....they made a decision to not ban it nationally! and left it up to local depts to make case by case decisions. medicare is very influential for trends in private insurance companies. Aetna has been the leader in covering ADR in the private sector.


there are numerous threads of discussion, some pretty recent about going to germany for adr. Someone just recently got back...I think chasswen (sp?) look for some of his posts. Lots of discussion about cost, how to handle various things, where to go, which facility, hotels for family etc. you may have to do a little digging in different categories. I think someone is going to the Alphaklink soon so you should be able to searh the name and find some discussion.


If you've heard about stenum do your reasearch on this site before going...there's a lot of debate and controversy on that location. Some people warning you not to go and others giving glowing recommendations???

I've not yet heard anything bad about going to Munich to see Dr. B or I guess he's now also at the alphklink???

good luck and happy reading.