California - Dr. Paul Willis
 

Paul W. Willis, D.O., Inc
Dr.Paul@earthlink.net
1305 West Arrow Hwy, Suite 106
San Dimas, CA 91773
(909) 971-0100

If you get his answering service, leave a message and his receptionist will call you back! (His private practice is new, his patient load is small, and he's not in the office unless he has a patient who needs him. Good news is, when you need him, he's usually available, and he'll spend A LOT of time with you, fixing you up.)

He is a private membership physician. (Yearly fee, no insurance.) As an osteopath, he's well-versed in dealing with TOS. He can give you some ongoing treatment and RELIEF.

Also the first aid doc at Angels Stadium, and he's worked with lots of celebrities, etc. He's a real gem. :-)

~ Jenny

Besides the two Drs listed at the beginning of the thread, wondering if anyone has run into Neurologists/Vascular Drs in the Boston area or southeastern MA area?

I'm from Scituate...south shore of MA. I have a bad feeling I'm going to waste a lot of time with the local neuros my PCP is recommending.

Thanks.

KY

Here is the name of a very conservative TOS specialist in Boston
Dr. Dean M. Donahue
Thoracic Surgeon
massgeneral.org/doctors/doctor.aspx?id=16342

Thanks much!

KY

http://eeshop.unl.edu/text/findadoc.txt

has a list of doctors and other stuff, for anyone whos desperate

Having surgery by Dr. Kim on May 24th
 

Just wanted to post that while I do not have TOS I do have the exact same trouble with my C4 to C7 discs. What that does mean is that it is causing the neck/shoulder pain I am having and the tingling numbness down my arm. I have tried PT, but when it gets to the point of that weird tingling, that usually suggests some nerve damage of some sort. I was referred to Dr. Kim who is a neurosurgeon by my neurologist, Dr. Nammour. I believe that when you finally make it to a neurosurgeon, it is all about surgery usually. Unless you elect to not go that route and risk severe nerve damage. I came equipped with my MRI's on disk and Dr. Kim's office had my neurologist's notes when I arrived. I think I only waited about a half hour to see Dr. Kim. While he was somewhat hurried in his approach, he and his associates did spend a moderate amount of time with me and my husband explaining the procedure, the expected outcome and the risks involved. Dr. Kim elected to do minimally invasive surgery where he would clean up the bone spurs and protrusions rather than perform disc replacement. I am very grateful that this is an option because disc replacement is definitely super invasive surgery and takes a longer recovery time. Dr. Kim informed me that what we are trying to accomplish from this surgery is to prevent any damage from getting worse. It will be icing on the cake to clear up the symptoms or pain or damage. But that is not to say it is not usually successful in the 90 percentiles. He hopes to buy me at least another 5 to 10 years before disc replacement is needed. I guess I will see how it goes and post after I go through the procedure next week!

Lisa

"My MRI showed the c5-6 disk to have moderate central and right side disk protrusion and bone spurring into the right neural foramen causing moderate right foraminal compromise. Dr. Sanders said that this could be causing a good portion of the symptoms of neck/shoulder pain as well as some of the neurological symptoms of tingling in my arm. Dr Sanders also said I definately have not had enough PT and from what it sounded like, not the right kind of PT. He said that therabands shouldn't be used, that they can make the symptoms worse (my pt was using therabands)."

http://www.uggen.net/mike/writing/conditions/TOS.htm

http://www.uggen.net/mike//treatment.htm
Michael Uggen, Licensed Massage Practitioner. Washington State Massage License Number MA 16912
Nationally Certified – NCBTMB
Member – AMTA


i have NOT been here but this guys website and writings are very appealing, if you're the WA (?) area..i would definitely check him out.

Not for PT, but more massage/bodywork

DO NOT GO TO DR. Azizzadeh. He did my surgery and screwed me up worse back in January 2007. At the time he said he'd done the surgery 30ish times and had success with everyone. He was cocky and over confident and did not listen to me. I was too young and naive to source a 2nd surgeon option. There were complications in the hospital, but they would not tell me what and kept me there for 7-days. They took pain medication away from me after the first day and I suffered despite my complaints of their lack of pain management. After I left the hospital they gave me 20 Vicodin (lowest dose) or something ludicrous like that. We all know that Vicodin does nothing for our pain. I called the dr office to complain almost everyday and they did nothing for me. I ended up having to get marijuana for pain management because Azizzadeh did not manage my pain effectively. At my follow up appointment the doctor did not listen to me at all. He grabbed my arm pulled it back and told me how awesome he was for fixing it. It was not fixed and he would not listen to my complaints. I was so ****** I walked out while he was talking and blew off all future appointments. I found another doctor to treat me for pain management and I've been on morphine/diluadid ever since. NOw I'm dealing with the side affects and physical dependence of those meds after 4-years of being on them.

Now I'm having Dr. Sanders in Denver do my surgery in 2-weeks nearly 4 years after Dr. Azizzadeh screwed me up and made my pain worse (by 50%). I'd say having surgery with Dr. Azizzadeh was the worst decision I've ever made in my life.

Within 5 minutes of speaking with Dr. Sanders I realized how clueless Dr. Azizzadeh is on TOS and the TOS surgery.

Please do NOT go to DR. Azizzadeh. It's worth the trip to Denver for Dr. Sanders... the dude wrote the BOOK on TOS and has done the surgery over 2,000 times. I'd much rather have that experience than someone who barley has any (and has a cocky know-it-all attitude at that).

Best doctor/therapist to start with?
 

I am not ready for surgery, but would like other assistance. What's the best place to turn next?

Before being diagnosed I saw 2 chiros who did not help - in fact one made things worse.
I have seen a vascular surgeon who did tests but did not offer help.
Primary care who was not that knowledgable about my symptoms and referred me to spine specialist.
Saw spine specialist, who prescribed gabapentin and PT. After 3 mo on PT, said PT probably wouldn't help and there was nothing more he could suggest beyond meds.
PT is maybe helping? Not sure and will probably stop soon. I still have symptoms.

Now, I don't know what to do. Would you recommend I see a different spine specialist? Another Vascular surgeon? Massage? Chrio specializing in Active Release? Naturapath?

Thank you.

Smileymichelle,
I placed a copy of your post on the main area of the TOS forum, so more members will see it and reply
- here is the link to it-
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread156590.html.

Dr. Donohue at MGH Boston has been great thus far. He met with me for an hour and a half for my consultation, and he has been very responsive over the phone as well. Dr. Donohue is a cardiothoracic surgeon but has told me that he does not want to do surgery before ruling out all other options. As a single 24 yo working to pay back extreme college loans, I appreciate that he does not want to do surgery yet, if at all.

Catherine Wee, an OT at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, was also fabulous. I saw her for several appts, but my condition continued to worsen. She is down to earth and compassionate. When I had been referred to other doctors around the Boston area, she called me after a couple months just to check in - I really like her, but I'm just not in a place where PT is helpful.

Hi LadyLaura,
I am a patient of Dr. Donohue as well - he was the one who finally did the right imaging and confirmed I have compression in my thoracic outlet. He recommended a scalene Botox injection for me but we're still working on getting insurance to approve. I too have been really impressed with Dr. Donohue's approach - he seems genuinely interested in helping deal with this condition and was really thorough in our consultation. Best of luck to you!

I have read this entire thread and may have missed it accidentely but I saw one doctor listed that someone recommended for a VTOS/ATOS surgeon in New York.

Id think since New York has such a high population and is very well known for their good doctors that im not sure why I am having such a difficult time finding a fantastic doctor her In NEw YORK. Anyone recommend any? Thank you !!

Many of the state by state listings were compliled in 2006, a few have been updated when new info was mentioned, but not many.

There really should be some new Drs and surgeons coming along - we hope!

Please add to this list if you do find some good ones.:)

South West Michigan TOS Dr.
 

http://www.mysurgicalgroup.com/Thora...tSyndrome.html
Dr. John Collins Jr.
Kalamazoo, MI

*Runs a TOS clinic locally. :)

thank you for the list. I've been referred to wisconsin, I live in Louisiana.
Can't afford the trip. So maybe the dr in shreveport could help, alittle far from home but not as far as wisconsin.

Another PT List
 

http://www.instituteofphysicalart.com/ipa/referral/list

This is where my PT studied and was certified. He's great, but dont know about any of the others.

dr donahue, more docs in ct or nyc
 

i have a consultation with dr donahue in a few weeks. I wonder why he is not on the master list. also does anyone have any experience with others in ct besides dr low? what about at yale or in new york city?

I see you found the sticky thread, the master list was originally made in 06.

There are new names coming up recently , hopefully the members that find the good drs/surgeons / PTs will remember to post the info here.

I guess no one had thought to add his details & contact info here yet.

Iris, Dr. Donahue is great. I hope your visit goes well. I don't understand why he's not on the list either. :confused:

Rosyln Lieberman in miracle mile in los angeles is a physical therapist that knows about TOS.

Anyone can add to this list & even link to the website if the Dr or PT has one, but some basic info will help others looking in the future -
like name, address, email, business phone..

Sometime doing a web search with a name brings up lots of names and they may not be the right one.:):)


Usually on a rainy winter day I go thru and update the state listing with the new ones
- it's nice to be able to copy/paste..

Orange County, CA Practitioners
 

I have had personal experience with all of the following:

Niren Angle, MD, RVT, FACS
Vascular Surgery
Mission Viejo
http://www.niren-angle.com
http://www.mission4health.com/Our-Do...ngle-M-D-.aspx

Roy M. Fujitani, MD
Vascular Surgery
Orange
http://www.healthcare.uci.edu/findad...?hsid=99009559
http://www.mission4health.com/Our-Do...tani-M-D-.aspx

Arthur Ando, PT, DPT, MS, CFMT
Physical Wellness Therapy Clinic Owner/Clinician, Educator
Anaheim Hills
http://www.andoaston.com/staff

James Sposa, DPT
Clinician
Anaheim Hills
http://www.andoaston.com/staff

Melissa Ricker, MT
The Susan Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine at UC Irvine School of Medicine
Irvine
http://www.sscim.uci.edu/Clinic/melissa-ricker.asp

Have you tried her or talked to her? How do you know about her?

Agreed! Dr. Annest is an excellent surgeon for TOS.
 

I also traveled from CA to CO to have the pec minor/scalene resection (TOS) surgery. Actually, both sides. Both times, the surgery helped tremendously.

Great surgeon and doctor's office. Dr. Annest performs multiple TOS surgeries on average per week. He is a perfectionist and has excellent bedside manner.

Additionally, he is capable of making the incision for the TOS surgery under one's armpit instead of across the collar bone region. My last operation was under a year ago and my scar is near invisible.

Donald L. Akers Jr., MD, FACS
Premier Surgical Associates
7557 Dannaher Way Suite 110
Powell, TN 37849
865) 938-8121 (Office)

Due to have surgery with him this Monday on Sept. 10th.

Dr. Gregory J Pearl
621 N Hall St, Ste 100
Dallas TX 75226
(This is part of Baylor Dallas - Jack and Jane Hamilton Heart & Vascular Hospital)

Phone: (214) 821-9600
or
1-800-4Baylor

http://www.texasvascularassociates.com/pearl.htm
This will get you Dr. Pearl's bio page on Texas Vascular Associates website; there is a good new patient info link and a "contact us via email" link

http://www.baylorhearthospital.com/
This is the hospital where Dr. Pearl did my TOS surgery. The staff - from surgeon and anesthesiologist to nurses to people delivering room service - were wonderful and attentive. The hospital was spotlessly clean and the floors kept quiet.

I can't say enough great things about Dr. Pearl and my surgery experience at Baylor. Suffice to say, I highly, highly recommend them.:circlelove:

best docs for thoracic outlet syndrome surgery
 

If you google best docs for thoracic outlet syndrome surgeons it will bring up NYU with several docs.

irisheyesmilin

If you look at Parbies thread : My TOS Search on the East Coast-She saw several Dr's in NY but did not find a good one in the City. It is pretty hard to beleive but they are spread out all over the country.

Dr. Kline is Louisiana has since Retired. That's why I went to missouri. Just to update the list.

I would highly recommend Dr. Molina in MN.

I read through some posts on here and saw people discussing treatment options, side effects, and recovery time. To be clear...Dr. Molina is literally writing books about new treatment options for TOS (his nurses gushed about him). In my case, which he claimed was one of the worst he's seen I had no permanent damage/side effects (other than two scars from surgery) and I recovered fully in 10 weeks.

He's an old polite and funny man. He keeps trying to retire and then calls it off because he loves what he's doing too much. He's primarily a surgeon who specializes in TOS, but surgery may get bumped if he's called to do a heart transplant. When I was told that before my surgery, it put my nerves at ease as thoracic surgery should be childs play compared to a heart transplant in my opinion.

Oh, and he doesn't believe in sending other docs in his stead. You get Molina, always...and he's damn protective. Heaven help my radiologist who crossed him, he made him apologize to each member of my family, to me, and to my nurse just for being extremely behind schedule.

Best of luck to everyone's health.

Here's my guy in Arizona... Dr. Randall Grace who works out of John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital.

Dr. Dean Donahue
Mass. General Hospital
Thoracic surgery
55 Fruit St.
Boston, Massachusetts

dr dean donahue
 

He is wonderful. He did my surgery two weeks ago and I just can't say enough about him and the staff at Mass General. The entire process from office visits, imaging and all through the recovery stage runs like a well-oiled machine.
Dr Donahue is very different from many drs that I have dealt with who are somehow more important than thier patients and have an almost celebrity-like demeaner, like you can never speak to them but leave messages through a nurse or receptionist. I was so shocked that one evening Dr Donahue himself called me and talked for 20 mins just answering questions and explaining things. He always makes himself available and really takes time. Today for example, he forgot to give me a script and called me (again himself) before I had left the parking garage. And he sent it to my pharmacy himself! Unheard of!
His knowlege of TOS and his surgical skills are amazing as well. He has written many articals and teaches on the subject all over the country. He is very upfront and honest and very conservative, and will not recommend surgery unless he feels that you are truly a good canidate.
If at all possible, GO TO MASS GEN!

IPA List Updated!!
 

It looks like the Institute of Physical Arts List has been finally updated. this is where Art Ando studied and a few members have found PT's on this list that have helped them. I encourage everyone to post their PT's that have helped them.I post this list so often so that people can find help in their areas.

I see Drs Lim and Mather listed in IL but would like to hear from a patient
 

These Drs are listed how ever in could not find posts from patients that have visited them does anyone know of someone with personal experience with these Drs? These Drs are about a 90 minute drive. I am looking for a dr who is experienced with this condition as none of the Drs I have seen previously seem to have been. I have been suffering with symptoms that seem to fit the bill of neuropathic TOS but I was shuffled from Dr to Dr and finally relegated to pain management and I am hoping to find a physician on my own insurance that can help. I was managed by workers comp when I was sent on the dr shuffle so I had no input on where I went.

Where are you located? Not sure which list you are referring to. Are you looking for Pt's or Surgeons or anyone? The IPA PT's seem to have knowledge of TOS. Unfortunately you may have to drive to find a good one. My PT is 50 miles away. But they can give you exercises to do at home so its worth it. There are several surgeons on the lists that people here recommend.I would start a new thread on the forum, with your location and what type of dr. you are looking for so others can see it and recommend.

Thank you for your response.

I am located in Northwest Indiana, Chicago is not all that far away. I was referring to the two Drs in the title of my post which were in the Chicagoland area from the dr list. I am wiling to travel if needed. I did post an intro/request for info in the main forum.

Feel free to add any new Doctors or PTs that you come across, as the state by state listings were mostly compiled in 2006/2007.

I'm sure new MDs & PTs are coming into action as others retire, so please share those names & contact info with us.

Kentucky

Dr. Linker
4003 Kresge Way
Louisville, KY 40207
502-895-2295