I had the clot removed and the first rib removed later in decompression surgery. While it's true that a person with VTOS could have an extra rib, that is usually not the case. VTOS is a different type of surgery than the surgery for NTOS, so unless a person has a diagnosis of both, it's unlikely the prognosis would be the same. The compression sites in the body aren't necessarily the same either. Plus each TOS individual is different. I see no harm in researching the rib removal surgery even if you ultimately decide against it. What do you have to lose?