For those looking for a good doc in Missouri, here is my experience and recommendation:
I had a surgical removal of a 3.3cm acoustic neuroma in January 2012 at St. Luke’s Hospital in Chesterfield, MO (a St. Louis suburb) by a 2-surgeon team, a neurotologist named Jacques Herzog, MD and a neurosurgeon named Michael Polinsky, MD. I was very satisfied with both. I checked-out 3 different teams in the St. Louis area and was by far most impressed with Herzog/Polinsky. They have the most experience with AN's. I was super happy with Herzog as his office was able to get me in to see him the same day that I called. I appreciated being worked-into his already full schedule and felt like he did not rush my visit in the least. I imagine others can relate to the angst that is felt immediately after getting your diagnosis and it was nice to not have to wait to get in.
At my initial visit with Dr. Polinsky (a week after seeing Herzog), he spent about 50 minutes with my wife and I looking at my MRI and explained the procedure using models of the brain, ect. We walked out of his office and my wife made the comment very enthusiastically, “I would recommend him to anyone!†I told her,†let’s see how the procedure goes before we recommend anyone.†I tell you this simply to express the positive feeling he left with us. It is unusual to find a neurosurgeon with a good bedside manner, but Polinsky is excellent.
Everything was great at St. Luke's, which is a HealthGrade's Top 50 Hospital in America.
A few other points of compliment include:
Nursing Care: I was very satisfied with all of the nursing care, both in the ICU and the floor.
I’m happy to report that everything went well, I had zero complications, and that I was back to working half-days 2 weeks after discharge and was back full-time in 3 weeks; and I didn’t feel like I was pushing myself to get back. I was ready to return to work both mentally and physically.
One other point of note: I didn't know this before, but I have a friend who is the Administrator of a large ENT group and surgery center in Lincoln, NE. She stated that St. Louis is known to be a strong ENT city, meaning the ENT's in St. Louis are known nationally as good. This was comforting to me to know that someone in the business, in another State, has heard about St. Louis ENT's reputation. This gave me the reassurance that I didn't need to leave the State to recieve care.
Hope this helps
