What exactly is "decompression" surgery?

Dr. Donahue is very up front about the fact that he will only operate on cases that he thinks will benefit from surgery. He has a very high success rate because he chooses his patients carefully. He is known for being very conservative in his approach.

It stands to reason that surgery may not help if the problem itself (TOS) is disputed in the first place.

Unfortunately, "disputed" TOS is often used in place of neurogenic TOS. It doesn't mean that the surgeon isn't sure you have TOS but goes ahead with the surgery anyway.

I know you want a good outcome and I hope that for you, too. But rest assured that each of us who had surgery did our due diligence and found surgeons who were experienced and well regarded and some of us still had bad outcomes.

Every surgeon says he/she is conservative. Every surgeon says he/she does surgery only as a last resort. Unfortunately, it's too simplistic to think every person who had a bad outcome had a inexperienced surgeon or wasn't motivated or was in poor health before surgery, etc.

If one had a rib abnormality or a purely vascular case of TOS, the surgical outcomes are better. If one has neurogenic or "disputed" TOS, the surgical outcomes are much worse.

Good luck,
Kelly

Kelly, I'm still not understanding what "disputed" means. If a surgeon wasn't sure of the problem and it was "disputed" or uncertain, then I wouldn't let them operate on me.

I do happen to think that there are just a handful of skilled surgeons in the country who do this sort of operation frequently and are experienced. When I say Dr. Donahue is conservative, I can ask for data on the number of patients he refers for surgery vs those he does not. He is very conservative. Perhaps I'm naive, but I feel fortunate to be under the care of one of the premier physicians dealing with TOS. I have a lot of faith in him and after close to THIRTY (yes, 30!) years of dealing with unexplained pain. I'm hoping for a good outcome, and I think I have a good shot at that/

I'm sorry your experience was not a good one. It doesn't mean that everyone will have a similar outcome, though. I hope you find a solution to your pain and wish you the best.

"Disputed" TOS is the same thing as Neurogenic TOS. Dr. Donahue makes reference to this (I think I remember) in the talk that you posted (which was really great).

Good luck.

When I wrote my last post about being cured from surgery I meant for purely vascular tos. I have not one symptom of neurological tos which seems rare. Im purely vascular and after reading and researching and speaking to people who have been cured they too has vascular only. BTW for those of you who have neurological symptoms only you should research TMS by Dr. john sarno. I went to him and he cured me of many different ailments. He has written several books on it. It is called Tension Myositis Syndrome. It'll explain what you're going through. vascular tos is different and strongly believe that decrompression surgery under skilled hands cures vascular tos.

If they see a rib compressing a vein and remove source of compression accurately there is no more compression and you're cured. its when the patient has either neurological tos or the doctor missed what was causing the true compression is when symptoms are worse or the same. It's not a difficult syndrome to understand. The way i view vascular tos is stepping on a water hose. Once you remove the source of decrompression (ur foot) the water can flow through. Same applies to vascular form of tos.

Scaredsilly,

My surgeon used almost the same language. He said once you unkink the hose, you're good to go. With regard to neurogenic TOS, he said, "Nerves can't take a joke."

I'm glad you got some relief.

Kelly