I'm guessing that a vascular surgeon wouldn't treat NTOS, is that correct to assume?

Hi Josh...

I think the post by Sheng... stated that Yes, Vascular surgeons do the "TOS surgery" for NTOS. Along with cardiothoracic surgeons and neurosurgeons.

From what I have seen, Vascular surgeons do the TOS surgery THE MOST out of all the types of surgeons, even though TOS is most often a nerve impingement problem and logically you would think neurosurgeons should be the ones doing TOS surgery.

Please note that sometimes vascular surgeons=cardiothoracic surgeons. The area of the body that is operated on is considered a tricky spot and thoracic surgeons seem to be hte most familiar with this area.

That is not correct. Vascular surgeons treat ntos too, usually with a rib re-section and some cardiothoracic surgeons too. it is just harder to diagnose and harder to know what to do. Some neurosurgens do scalenectomies, but not rib resections. I think the most common are vascular. Its best to find a good Dr. with lots of TOS experience regardless of their actual designation and speak to more than one if you can.

I guess I went to the wrong doctor then....lol, which I am used to at this point. I saw a vascular doctor who specializes in TOS. They ran tests on me and found that I don't have venous or arterial TOS, but then he said its possible that I have NTOS, but he doesn't treat that. Maybe he just meant I need to be diagnosed with NTOS by a neurologist first before he treats it? The thing that threw me off is when he said it was unlikely that I had NTOS, because I dont have venous or arterial TOS. He said if the space was large enough to not cause the one compression, it was unlikely to compress the nerves. It was my understanding that they were totally separate compressions. So if someone claiming to treat TOS got that wrong.....what's going on! Lol.