dhanks0001

[dhanks0001]

Hi I am new to the board and was researching different areas to have a three level ADR. I was quoted a price in Germany by Dr. Bertaglio and also by Aimis in Cypress which was about 13 k lower. Has anyone ever heard of a Dr Katzman in Florida who does outpatient surgery for ADR at the center for ADR in Orlando. They gave me a comparable price with 2 disc plus a middle hybrid disc using minimal invasive surgery and going home same day. Not sure about his reputation or experience. I was told he did prodisc s for a number of years and now is doing the Bryan disc. Any help would be appreciated. His quote was right in the middle of the other two overseas quotes and he is nearby.

Thanks to anyone who may know him . Dalton

[NJ Gene]

Dalton,

I'm not sure if this is the same Dr. Katzman you are talking about, but check out this link. Offices of Dr. Scott Katzman, MD - Orthopedic Surgery - Fort Pierce, FL If this is the right Dr. Katzman, I'm not impressed with his patients' satisfaction level.

If you're interested in getting ADR done in the United States it appears (from having read through these boards) that Dr. Jack Zigler of the Texas Back Institute is one of the best. My understanding is that he fights with the insurance companies on behalf of his patients, so you might get all (if not part) of your surgery covered.

I would advise staying in the United States if at all possible. Many people on these boards are in extremely bad shape and have been that way for years. I don't blame them for going abroad. However, there are quite a few risks. If you have a surgeon overseas operate on you, it's very difficult to find a U.S. surgeon for follow-up care. Furthermore, if anything goes wrong, there is little to no accountability on surgeons outside of the U.S.

Also, I would advise against using cost comparisons if your decision is to go abroad. AIMIS (American Institute for Minimally Invasive Surgery) is composed of American Doctors who operate abroad so that they can do riskier operations that are not under FDA regulations (that part is not always a bad thing) and are shielded from U.S. malpractice. I know this because my spine surgeon was one of the doctors who helped form AIMIS. Once he realized that one of it's main purposes was for surgeons to shield themselves from malpractice, he divested all funds he put in and disassociated himself from it. They have a great concept. You go overseas, get the operation you need (often for less money than mainland Europe), have a nice beach vacation at the same time, then go home and follow-up with a participating surgeon in your geographical area. Honestly, you are best off researching the surgeons on the AIMIS website, as well as others (both here and abroad) and consider having surgery done at their home base.

From reading these forums, it appears that the best doctors in Europe for ADR are Dr. Bierstedt in Germany, Dr. Pablo Clavel in Barcelona, and Mr. Christopher Dare in the U.K. I've also heard wonderful things about Dr. Pimenta in San Paulo, Brazil. Realistically you are looking at about $40K for 2 level ADR (including travel costs) with any of these physicians. If you want to go as cheap as possible you can have two level ADR done in India for about $15K.

I think you need to spend several hours on these forums and do as much research as possible. If you wish to contact me, feel free to send me a Private Message. In my case, I ended up not having ADR. I had a minimally-invasive procedure instead. Hopefully that will be all I ever need. In the worst case, I could always consider ADR in the future. Perhaps by then it will be more widely accepted in the U.S. and insurance will be more likely to cover it.

Good luck!!
Gene