I am brand new to this forum. I just saw Dr Justin Brown at UCSD. He is a neurosurgeon on the TOS team. He is very likable and knowledgeable. He has recommended surgery for me unfortunately, as I failed PT. I have both neuro and vascular symptoms bilaterally. He is going to do a scalenectomy which does not involve any rib removal. Hopefully my recovery and complication rate will be lower than what I have been reading about in these threads.

I have bilateral arterial and venous TOS. What diagnostic tests and imaging studies have you had done (e.g., ultrasound, CT, arteriogram, venogram, etc.)? When you say vascular, is it the arterial or venous form? I will be getting partial rib resections on both sides in the coming months, and I've done endless research on this, as it is such serious surgery. I'm kind of surprised, if you have vascular TOS, that no rib surgery is involved, but if you could share any more details about the surgery, it would be interesting to me to hear about them.

Prior to surgery, please research crps and the risks of rib removal. I had mine removed and now deal with crps. For me, the pain is worse than when I had venous tos. Also there is a large failure rate due to adhesions etc. my arm still goes numb when I lift it and I can feel the scar tissue pulling in my underarm. My docs won't touch it until they have to because of my crps. Make sure your doc knows what crps is! There are steps that can be taken pre op and post op tp try and prevent it.

Yes , CRPS/RSD does happen at times and with no rhyme or reason to it, same with the scar tissue.


Really something to consider.

Are the risks for CRPS lower with scalenectomy only?

I don't know if the risks are any different, RSD/CRPS can even happen from a minor bump , or just out of the blue.

Our RSD/CRPS forum will have more posts about how each member got that condition.
Might be a good topic for a thread or poll there.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum21.html

Has anyone ever followed up with these folks at UCSD?

When do you expect surgery? please let us how you're doing.

Also, interested in your recovery and adventure with Dr. Brown and UCSD's care

Any update? I'm very curious regarding scalenectomy only vs 1st rib resection. Dr. Gelabert @ UCLA is the only surgeon I've consulted so far.