doctors and number of AN removal??

[tenai98]

I was just informed that my ENT and his sidekick neurosurgeon do about 1 AN surgery a month?  Is this good or bad??? I have another consultation with doc in Toronto for a second opinion.  What number if there is a magic number that I should be looking for??  I'm in wait and watch right now
JO

[yardtick]

Hi Jo,

Remember the population in Canada is considerably smaller than our neighbours in the US.  I would like to know where the Drs study and how long have they been operating.  Ask for patient references.   Second opinions are good.  Who are you see in Toronto?

Anne Marie

[tenai98]

I will be seeing Dr. John Rutka on Nov 10.  I m going to call him to see if I can send him my MRI and do a phone consultation as I now have the shingles and travelling would be unbearable...maybe it will be cleared up by then
JO

[jtd71465]

When I first started my search the magic number I was looking for was for someone to have done at least 52 per year.  


Joe-

[Jim Scott]

Hi, Jo:

While there is no hard and fast number to gauge a surgeons expertise, obviously, more is better.  I believe that a total of 100 AN removal surgeries should be the base number for considering a surgeon's expertise in the procedure, which is delicate, tedious and demanding of the surgeon.  If a doctor performs 1 per month, that equates to 12 per year.  That means that in eight years, a doctor will have performed 96 AN removal surgeries.  Round that off to 100 and you have the base number (by my standards). 

The first neurosurgeon I consulted grudgingly admitted to having performed 'maybe' 60 AN removal surgeries in his career (he was in his early 40's.)  I passed.  The neurosurgeon I hired was a man in his 60's with 30 years of AN removal experience and was very engaged with the latest methods.  He is a member of the ANA and has been for years and years.  My surgery and later radiation were successful.  I always felt very confident in this neurosurgeon who was professional, respected (the hospital nurses raved about him), compassionate and very concerned about the patient's quality of life, post-op, not just 'getting the tumor out'. 

I wouldn't presume to tell another AN patient what doctor to choose but I will advise you to have more than one consultation, politely ask serious, probing questions and don't be intimidated.  You are the only one who will have to live with the results of the surgery.  Be informed and pro-active. 

I wish you all the best on this journey. 

Jim

[Mickey]

To be honest with you I`d be looking for something in at least 1 a week category. This gives them alot of experience over the years which I did look to meet within my expectations. I`m still waiting and watching and had plenty of time to look around. Hopefully I won`t have to act upon it. I`m wishing you the best! Mickey

[Sam Rush]

The magic number is a minimum of 40/yr.

[yardtick]

Jo,

Dr Rutka is great.  He is my specialist and he operated on Trish.  He also removed my scar neuroma in July.  He will spend time with you and answer all of your questions.  I just him last week.  He has a very gentle bedside manner and is quite witty.

You poor baby!!!  As OMG16 says "kisses to the forehead"   I just hope it isn't too painful.

Anne Marie

[val]

Hi JO
 
What a good question.  I am in Canada as well.  I have decided to have my AN removed and will be meeting with the neurosurgeon Dr. Pirouzmand at Sunnybrook Hospital on Oct 7, my ENT is Dr Chen. 

Val

[Dog Lover]

I agree with jim. The more surgeries performed by the surgeon the better. I was talking to my PCP before my surgery and she said I needed to have someone who did 2-4 AN surgeries per week. The one I ended up selecting does perform that many and has very high results, and is highly regarded.

Cathy

[Mathilda]

Hi,

The ENT surgeon here in the Netherlands that I consulted does 1 to 2 AN removals a week but only few of them are middle fossa.
So for any other approach I probably would have opted for surgery here (30 min. away).
The chances of becoming deaf in the AN ear  thru middle fossa are:   here 50% and at House Ear 20%. So quite a difference, probably because of the extra experience  !
So my idea is that you also must know which of the approaches they usually do and which one you would want/need.
Wishing you wisdom and succes on your search for the best doctor

Mathilda

[robynabc]

My humble opinion is, it depends.  If you have someone that has done 1 a month for 20 years that is different from 1  a month for 10 years.  Our doctor said he had only done 2 in the last year before Eric's surgery  but he is a teacher at the university now.  He has done many many over the 25 years he was a ENT Cranial Doctor.  The number is just one piece of the criteria.  In our case I took the advice of all the ENT's in the area.   They all said he was the best.  Plus I knew that being the head of the dept.  was huge.  But this is a specialized area and at least 100 would be my minimum.  This is just my humble opinion.   The other thing that helped me in the decision,  I mostly did this all,  was I asked technical questions,  like what is the difference between translab and R/S.  And you can tell some at the first appointment,  on what they are checking,  how long they talk to you.  Our first appointment was over an hour long.  Another really good tip,  we brought Eric's small tape recorder from school and taped the whole thing so we could go over it later if we forgot something the doc said. 

I hope that helps in some way.  Good luck.

Robyn

[Dog Lover]

Robyn,

That is a great idea of taking a tape recorder. I had a friend come with me and take notes. it was very helpful to be able to go back and look up something that I didn't remember.

cathy

[leapyrtwins]

Ironically I never asked my neurotologist how many ANs he'd surgically removed - or how many he'd radiated either - pre op.

I never asked him post op either.  To this day, 16 months later I still don't know and I may never ask him.

Call me stupid, but he came highly recommended, he had 17 years experience at the time, he trains other doctors to become neurotologists at a well-known medical school, and I had complete and total confidence in him and that's all that mattered to me. 

My neurosurgeon, who came as part of the team, turned out to have extensive experience in surgically removing ANs - but I've never asked him how many he's done either.

I'm not advising others not to ask; just telling you my experience. 

BTW, I couldn't have asked for a better outcome.

To each his own,

Jan