The failed spondo procedure (L5-S1 formanotomy) was performed in late January 2007!
I think there are many other people that have had similar experiences with Dr. Jho, but they do not post.

For all readers who read some of these negative posts about dr jho let me tell you this, I am 35 years old and have degenerative disc disease and within the last year i had L4-L5 and T2-T3 surgeries with dr jho T2-T3 being the worse with extensive spinal cord compression. This was a very dangerous surgery that would require precision surgical procedure and I opted to go with Dr. Jho because he had previously done 7, yes 7 of my fathers 11 back surgeries. He is 58 yrs old and was out in the yard digging post holes by hand for a fence he was installing yesterday and my brother whome is 33 yrs old after having L3-L4 done by Dr Jho was playing his usual 3 rounds of golf per week. Now before my surgeries I was looking at a life of misery and losing my job as a sales rep where i am on the road 12 hrs a day and I can tell you all I havent missed a day of work since my second surgery 6 months ago and my first 11 months ago. So what i am trying to say is that Dr Jho has saved all of my families lives and careers and when you have spinal surgery with any surgeon you will have serious risk of complications no matter how RENOWN they are the central nervous system at risk any time a knife slices into it. I am 35 and dr jho is in his 60's and i dont know what i will do if he ever retires being that i have hstenosis and herniations at 13 leves of my spine at the moment i really hope he starts teaching his techniques to others, but i will never trust anyone like i do dr jho.

sincerely - doing great!

Despite some of the repetitive criticism of Dr. Jho (including those who have never seen him) he did a great job for me. I can't recommend him enough IF you have the type of condition that he specializes in correcting.

The front office IS a little weak and slow but they get calls non-stop. Once I established a relationship with them the communications were no longer an issue.

I flew to Pittsburgh thinking that I was going to have a 3 level cervical surgery based on MRI films only. After I met with Dr. Davidovitch, (Jho's assistant until 9/1/08) and went over my actual symptoms, we re-thought the idea. After reviewing the MRIs and symptoms with Jho and Davidovitch we decided to stay conservative and only do one level. The reasoning was that he might be able to open the canal enough on one side to relieve subsequent compression. The downside was that I might have to come back. That fit my philosophy in advancing slowly and hitting the big spots first.

Dr. Jho IS very brief but that's because he doesn't need to ponder what he's doing and he's not paid to hold hands. I know others don't appreciate that approach but I certainly do. I could tell he was someone whom I needn't question.

I was concerned about intubation side affects do to a GERD/LPR issue. I was told to discuss it with the anesthesiologists, which I did, and they added a little more steroid to the mix. I really had minimal intubation issues - I ate the pork chop that was served for dinner as testimony!

In fact, after surgery, the main problem was urinating which is side effect of the anesthesia. I really had to go but I just dribbled.... It resolved itself the next day. Just drink lots of fluids to flush it out of your kidneys - stupid advice if you can't pee but eventually it does work. ( My sister's take on this was "you had spinal surgery and your main complaint is that you dribble...? Must have been good drugs! (Except I NEVER took a Percocet even though they gave me a jar of them. ))

Anyhow, the surgery was a success and I could sleep on my right side for the first time in years. I never had great pain, just nasty paresthesia, and it's going away. I also feel my muscles are waking up as the re-innervation continues. I was up and walking right after I recovered. Each day gets better and there's no bed rest - NONE! (Just no swimming for couple of weeks to keep water from soaking into the incision.)

I AM SO GLAD I NEVER HAD A FUSION or a laminectomy! I'll do this procedure over and over if I have to. Eventually I might have to have a fusion or an ADR but I'm sure I bought myself years of relief before I ever have to do radical surgery. Since I'm an active old guy that means a lot to me.

Also, Allegheny General Hospital treats Jho's patients with TLC. He and Dr. Jannetta are like rock stars there. Jho's patients get private rooms as part of the contract he negotiated with AGH when they wooed him away from PITT. That's a nice perk that he didn't have to do. It's more than just statistics...

I do agree that it's too bad that more docs don't know the technique. As younger deans come in to the med schools I think we'll see a jump in scope procedures and a slide in knife procedures. These young docs grew up with scopes so they're comfortable with what they're doing. Let's hope it spreads quickly.

The "repetitive criticism" about Jho, that is mentioned in previous post does not originate in vacuum! I would say wholeheartedly that I DO NOT TRUST this person. Never in my life had I encountered a physician that has so little compassion, kindness, patience, or interest in his patients. On the other hand, he certainly has more then just excessive mounts of ego, marketing skills and rudeness. Note: there is an exception, and it is if you are a “celebrity” wrestler. In such a case Jho will take a photograph of you and him., and even smile… The large number of negative remarks one can find in various web sites and forums come from many other that share the same personal experiences and impressions I had. I read a post that blamed it on his ethnic origin. Nonsense, any normal person that lived in our country for so long has some minimal people skills regardless where they came from. The wait time is his office was usually more then 2 hours, and no one would ever explain or appologize for this. The courtesy of the staff competes Jho's attitude. Jho did not examine me seriously (and his PA that helped him was realy inexperienced and with very little medical and clinical skills). In most cases Jho will basically only look at you MRI and will usually offer to operate (if you want it) - even in cases when most other surgeons would advise conservative managment. There is NO post surgical care, and Jho practically dumped me and instructed to follow with my primary physician. You do the math. Overall, the results I had were way below my original (naive) expectations.
He is yet to publish a serious peer reviewed article showing the value of his “technique”. Until then, his surgeries might help you or not, depends on your specific clinical problem, as well as your luck. I suggest you meet with at least one other neurosurgeon or spine surgeon before you make any decision.

My post began this thread and described my positive experience in a 2-level cervical microforaminotomy with Dr Jho. This is literally the first time I've logged on to this site since October 2007, and I'm now 5-1/2 years post-op and feel that I'm doing even better. The fact that I so infrequently visit sites like this is a reflection of how little I ever think of myself now as a cervical patient. I feel compelled to add a post to this thread because of all the Dr Jho bashing that has ensued since then. It is not my intention to minimize anybody else's direct experience with Dr Jho. But I do find some of the negative posts from those without that experience both questionable and potentially unhelpful. I understand that no doctor is perfect and every doctor will have some percentage of cases with a negative outcome. But I am convinced beyond a doubt that the negative posters in this thread have skewed the facts resulting in a misrepresentation of an excellent neurosurgeon offering a pivotal minimally invasive spinal procedure.

Some folks mentioned that they couldn't get answers from Dr Jho and my experience couldn't have been more different. In all my discussions with Dr Jho, I always felt that he was giving me all the time in the world to ask whatever questions I had in mind and he patiently gave me complete, detailed answers. I have somewhat of a medical background, and in my pre-op consultation I felt reassured and confident that I was in the best of hands.

I think all the various surgical procedures have their place. For some conditions, an ACDF or laminectomy is the best approach. But based on my experience, for herniations like I suffered, it makes no sense to use such invasive procedures that drastically change your anatomy and entail a much more extended/involved recovery. When it's a more mature procedure, artificial cervical disc replacement is the only invasive option that I would consider for this condition.

Wishing everyone a successful, pain-free outcome whatever you decide!

I may print this and take it to my NS appt coming up.

one year ago almost to the day.i am now an invalid and can barely use this keyboard.
I will say this....jho is a charlatan.he humiliated me screaming and yelling in front of 30 people.i am a former olympic athlete and am now defenseless but i let him have it by screaming the truth back at the lying poor soul.
Spread the caution

There seems to be a lot of patients of Dr. Hae-Dong Jho in this forum. By any chance have any of you had his nerve decompression surgery performed for Occipital Neuralgia (ON)? Or do you know someone who has had it done?

My friend with ON is planning on visiting him in Pittsburgh for a consultation and possible surgery in March. We are hoping to find a few people to share their experiences with us.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Warm regards,
Peter

I am interested in your friend who was going to see Dr a Jho for occipital neuralgia. I have an appointment with him on October 14, 2013 to discuss surgery after my nerve block. Did your friend ever have the surgery. What was the outcome.

I’m seriously considering getting the Jho Procedure to fix a C4-C5 Disc herniation. My herniation is very centralized, almost perfectly centralized. My only alternative is an artificial disc replacement procedure.

I’m praying that the Jho Procedure is successful because I really want to avoid getting any hardware or a fusion.

Can you please share your recent experiences with the Jho Procedure?