Thanks for your input Tumbleweed. I think what Slattery was saying is that he himself did not see any advantage in doing this surgery via endoscope. House (HEI) has an amazing reputation and they do microsurgery with great results (if it ain't' broke don't fix it). IMO... endoscopic just seems to make better sense for brain surgery. Less invasive in my brain? I like the sound of that! Shahinian has a bit of controversy that follows him that I am in the process of trying to unravel (if anyone reading this has had a direct experience with Shahanian PLEASE contact me ASAP). People (other docs mainly) seem to write him off as a "plastic surgeon" which is not at all what he does. His specialty is the skull and I do believe my AN is inside my skull. I read an article about him where in 2006 he was sued by a patient with an AN that he was supposed to have removed but missed. I believe someone from HEI served as an expert witness against him during that trial. This raises some concern.
I went to Dr Jho's (the only other AN endoscope camp that I know of) website and it seems that the big difference in these two surgeries is indeed the metal retractors that are used to hold the cerebellum aside while the surgery takes place. Endoscopic surgery allows the surgery to take place without the metal retractors but the Dr still uses a microscope and an endoscope. It's just strange to me that other surgeons are not embracing it. The idea of someone even touching my cerebellum, much less moving it aside and clamping it with a metal bar, gives me the heebie-jeebies.
I will contact Dr. Chang tomorrow.
