Retrosigmoid Approach

[chapelhillman]

Hi:
I was diagnosed with a 2cm AN and have sent my scans to House along with UNC here in Chapel Hill.  I have been told that it is definitely a retrosigmoid surgery.  I have also learned that less than 10% of procedures are RS.  So who does the most RS approaches?  If 2,000 are diagnosed each year and about something like 1200 are surgically removed, then only something like 100 RS approaches are done.  I have been told if the surgeon does less than 50 per year then he is still training.  Who does the most RS approaches?  Please help.

[russ]

Hi
  I was told by a Mayo Clinic Dr that retrosigmoid was the oldest and most utilized surgery so am not sure where your sources info is coming from. There own records?
  I would feel confident with HEI performing it. HEI pioneered and perfected Translab so that came later and many, many facilities have adopted this complete gutting of the inner ear for tumor removal, 'IF', there is little to no hearing to be spared. Not sure about MidFossa beginnings or #s performed.
  Re: Stat #s, my feeling is they are inconsequential when speaking of HEI. A ten minute web search pulled up no numbers. I suppose one could look for hours. Maybe ask House surgeons how many subocciptitals they have performed.
  Russ

[becknell]

Did UNC tell you anything about their AN experience? Just curious. I live in South Carolina.

[chapelhillman]

The head of ENT surgery at UNC, Dr. Buchman, trained at House.  There is also a Dr. McElveen (sp.) in Raliegh who was head of oto-neurosurgery at Duke.  He left to form a practice and just hired someone who just finished his training at House.  In all my conversations, nobody mentions data in specific terms.  I did find an article in one of the professional journals that was published a few years ago that stratified hospitals according to volume and analyzed complication rates.  It was clear that higher volumes of procedures results in much fewer complications.