Hello, I thought I'd chime in with my personal experience.

In December 2011, I had swelling in my left arm which turned out to be blood clots due to Paget-Schroeder Syndrome.

After reading various threads on here, I was extremely nervous about the surgery, but it all went extremely smooth.

I had a first rib resection surgery done in Feb 2012, in Philadelphia, PA.

I went with Dr. Ronald Fairman, who is the head Vascular Surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania.

He uses the Transaxillary approach.

If anyone has any specific questions feel free to ask.

Have a great day!

Sean