First of all, you see a hand surgeon for hand surgery. See a vascular surgeon for TOS of any kind. If they are worth their weight in their medical degree they will know how to take care of all kinds of TOS not just vascular.
I had a very successful TOS surgery done by Dr. Charles Brantigan in Denver 8 yrs ago. I had all 3 types of TOS and a severe case too. He did the vascular, arterial and neuro TOS surgery on me and I am back at work for the past few years in medicine and have no pain and on no meds since the surgery.
Yes, your hand doc is correct the surgery is hard because the area is around lot of major blood vessels that's why most VASCULAR surgeons do the surgery and not hand surgeons!
It makes me cringe when I hear stories like yours that a hand surgeon is talking about how bad TOS surgery is and not telling you who to see or which doctor is better for it. There's a rule of thumb in medicine, only see a doctor for surgery IF they do at least 50 to 100 (a YEAR) of the type of surgery the patient needs done.
If one does their homework it isn't all that hard to get to Denver to see the experts. You can also call the office 1-800-992-4676 and see if you can send the reports and films you have to him first before going out there. Not sure if he does that but it's worth the toll free call.
Good luck to you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ozzy14
Hi there everyone,
The surgeon I have seen, hand surgeon with an interest in TOS, stated that the operation to remove ribs would be an absolute last resort. She stated that it is not a highly successful op and quite dangerous considering how close they would have to go to the arteries etc. I dont know if they are a full set or half set but they are only about 4cm long and can be seen on an ordinary xray. All Drs agree I have TOS but noone gives me any info or follow ups. I think they dont know enough about it. Probably hoping id go away!!!
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