Choosing a spine surgeon

Personally I wouldn’t go so heavily on reviews. I would ask the surgeon how many of the procedure ur contemplating he has done this month, this year and this decade. Ask about success rate, complication rate, mortality rate, failure rate. Ask for the same numbers for the hospital as the ancillary staff are key variables. Ask how much of the procedure he will do himself as opposed to residents or surgically specialists (not surgeons but helpers). Ask if he would be willing to schedUle u for a day he wasn’t on call the night before.

Compare the two surgeons answers and go from there. A surgeon with good numbers will be proud of them and very willing to share them with you. If you experience hesitation or pushback when you ask, I think that is a red flag

Personally I would not choose a surgeon because I like him. I want my surgeon to provide good information, answer my questions and concerns. I want her/him to have done at least many hundreds of the surgery I need successfully. I want to know her infection rate is the lowest among them. I want to know that I have researched thoroughly.

@annie1
What surgery did you have that did not go well? What levels were worked on and what did your surgeon say was the reason it failed?

It was a fairly minor surgery called a laminotomy. There was no fusion and it was only one level 3 - 4 . I'm embarrassed to say I didn't ask him why the symptoms came back although I'm assuming it's because in the beginning he told me I might need a fusion a year after this surgery so I'm assuming it's because he didn't fuse the bones together after he opened up the space. But that's a good question to ask him. It's a little embarrassing I like him a lot I even would say I had a crush on him which makes the decision trickier. He is at Columbia and was supposed to be one of the best spine neurosurgeons in New York. He's fairly young compared to some of the other surgeons I've spoken to he's I think around 50 or maybe even a little younger.

@laura1970
Great advice!

@laura1970
Great things to ask . I always ask how often do you do this, but never as specific as you were saying. Also, since I did have a laminotomy (smaller than laminectomy) with one of the people I am considering, I have a familiarity and certain fondness for him, but I don't want sentimentality to cloud my choice. Also, the first surgery, decompression without fusion only helped for four months, then the symptoms came back I was attributing that to the fact that I didn't have fusion right away. He did say in our first meeting that I might need fusion a year or so after a decompression, but actually the symptoms came back much sooner than a year. Would you say that's red flag ? He is a well recognized neurosurgeon in NYC, but on the younger side.

@gravity3
He has answered my questions, but maybe I am not asking as specifically as I should. I asked how often he does fusions and he answered something like I did two yesterday or maybe it was this week. I can't remember. What would be a typical number of fusions a surgeon does who is doing alot of them ? He works at a well recognized hospital, Columbia and teaches in neurosurgery also. I never thought about asking about infection rate. I did one surgery with him that only helped for four months however and the aftercare team was very scarce, which was bad. He is getting a new NP, and she was a big part of the problem, however he was never available after the surgery really. Only she was. Is that typical ?

I chose the one my local pain management doctor recommended. He is a revision specialist. In other words, he corrects other neurosurgeon's missteps. He was 2 hours away at Mayo, also young and I had to go through triage several times with pain management and an additional MRI even though my records were sent before he could see me. He diagnosed me immediately and scheduled surgery and corrected my problem. Follow up care today is weak.

You might also ask the doctor how many times they’ve been sued by failed surgery. As other readers have responded don’t depend on the reviews. Look into their backgrounds i.e. where they trained, where did they do their fellowship training, how many do they do a year, will he be assisted by anyone. Reviews are a one-time shot of feeling from a patient. Do your research instead.

@annie1

I have had 3 spine surgeries--2 went perfectly and the last one was complicated by a spinal bleed. I didn't stop taking the Eliquis far enough in advance of the surgery date to minimize bleeding risk. It can take up to 2 weeks to get that stuff out of your blood; but my Cardiologist insisted 3 days suspension was fine. I am in my mid 70's; tht should have called for much more caution regarding the thinner.

Spine surgery is never a sure thing; not that you appear to think in that direction. However, I wish I had just recently consented to upgrading my 1-level fusion to a 2-level since I have a congenitally narrow interior of the spine.

Much depends upon the individual patient's physiology and spine health as it affects treatment choices. The most important question for the surgeon is; have we identified what the specific issue is, and what are the options/ Which treatment option will likely fix the problem? "Measure twice, cut once".