I've lurked this site (and BT) for several months now gleaning information. It seems only fair to check in and report what I've learned/done to share the knowledge. As background, my husband was diagnosed with TOS and had his initial surgery 3 years ago where a rib was removed and the scalene was partially removed. It worked for a few months and the pain returned. A second surgery was performed and the surgeon removed more of the scalene. Again, in a few months the pain returned and over the next two years the pain progressively increased. The surgeon at this point, as I'm sure many of you have learned, threw up his hands. The return phone calls came further and further apart. Several referrals were made that resulted in nothing other than more time lapsed. An MRI was ordered by a neurosurgeon that showed the brachial plexus was an "amorphous mass of scarring and tissue" brought about by the two surgeries. That doc, incidentally, was an ***, but that's besides the point. Around this time I decided to get involved and found the BrainTalk community. I read hundreds of posts and learned that Denver is the mecca for TOS. And further reading pin-pointed Brantigan, Sanders, and Annest as the docs to see. I made appts. with Sanders and Brantigan and down we flew in August. After our initial appt with Dr. Brantigan, he ordered a spiral CT scan which clearly, clearly showed the problem. The rib was growing back. Evidently the surgeon had not removed the periosteum when he removed the rib (look up the meaning in wikipedia if you don't know what it is) and the rib was regrowing. My husband and I both cried when we saw the CT because there was finally an definitive cause for his pain. (As many of you know, when docs stop returning your calls and have no idea why you're not better, you begin to feel crazy) Anyway, we're flying back down to Denver on Dec 17 for surgery, and we'll stay for 2 weeks to take advantage of the incredible physical therapy they have in Denver.

So we don't know what the outcome will be, although Dr. Brantigan's immediate recognition of the symptoms and quick diagnosis is encouraging. He'll go in through the armpit this time to minimize further scarring, to remove the bone that is growing right smack in the middle of the bracial plexus. And also, Dr. Brantigan had his specialist re-interpret the MRI with the scarring diagnosis, and this doctor said the scarring was consistent with two surgeries, nothing abnormal.

So there's my story.

As a P.S., my husband made an appt with this surgeon when we got back home to tell him the problem and apparently Dr. Brantigan had already had a "talking to" with him. He probably won't make this mistake again.

And finally, if you go to Dr. B's web site http://drbrantigan.com/physician/multidetector.htm - you can see what the rib looks like when it begins to grow back. I believe it's the second picture on the page.

Okay, okay, this is really my final comment - the spiral CT is such a great tool for diagnosing that area, as I said even I could see the rib growing, why isn't it used more often?

Thank you all for your collective wisdom and I'll keep you posted on the surgical outcome.