Dr. Shahinian in Los Angeles, CA saved my husband's life!

[eronrabun]

This is for anyone who is considering going to LA for Dr Shahinian...
HE SAVED MY HUSBAND'S LIFE.  In October of 2005, my 25 year old husband was diagnosed with a 3cm acoustic neuroma.  We were presented with the option of the "traditional" operation or the new endoscopic procedure.  After MUCH research, we weighed our options and decided to fly from Georgia to California for this "New" procedure.  Considering the fact that Dr Shahinian has preformed over 200 of these surgeries and averages one per day, we felt extremely confident in his ability.  We were SCARED TO DEATH for the month of research & waiting.  The second that we met Dr Shahinian, all of our fears were gone.  He was the most confidant (without be remotely arrogant) physician that we had ever met.  We sat in his office for the consultation and he answered any and all questions that we had.  We honestly left his office feeling like a weight had been lifted.  We knew everything was going to be alright.  He told us exactly what to expect and exactly what he would do.

My husband's surgery was on Halloween of 2005 (now 2.5 months ago) and now he is doing GREAT!  With the old/traditional procedure my husband was told to expect to be out of work for 6 months.  He went back to work part time YESTERDAY!  He has NO facial nerve damage, NO balance issues, and NO CSF leakage!!!  I truly believe that Dr Shahinian is sent my God to heal.  He is an absolutely amazing physician!!  We have NO REGRETS about chosing him.  If you have any questions, please dont hesitate to contact me.  I would be more than happy to share our experiences. 

[LivTiger]

Thank you for the information on Dr. Shahinian. In 1999 I was diagnosed with a 2 cm pituitary tumor. After extensive research, I had Dr. Shahinian perform the surgery. It went very well and I'm fine now.

In a tragic coincidence, my husband has just been diagnosed with a mass that is making him lose his hearing in his left ear. It does not seem to be an acoustic neuroma based on the MRI report, but a petrous apex epidermoid. We've only seen one doctor so far so I'm not sure how they differentiate the types of tumors.

We will definitely confer with Dr. Shahinian, since we feel like he saved my life 5 years ago.

[russ]

   Re Dr Shahinian, there is much to be said about him and other facilities do quite well with pituitary tumors, going up through the gum line.
   Your husband was quite fortunate to have turned out as well as he did with the minimally invasive skull base procedure but it does yet remain at best, EXPERIMENTAL. I've read a seriously adverse case scenario.
   *There haven't been that many performed so as to compare and other facilities have not adopted the potentially dangerous ( more so than other surgical procedures for AN ) .
    I would not elavate Shahinian to 'hero' status just yet.
    Russ Korte

[jamie]

Your husband was quite fortunate to have turned out as well as he did with the minimally invasive skull base procedure but it does yet remain at best, EXPERIMENTAL. I've read a seriously adverse case scenario.

Hi Russ, I was wondering if perhaps you had any links to info regarding adverse case scenarios vs. positive outcomes with fully endoscopic resection. The procedure is very interesting to me, it's also performed by a Korean, Dr. Jho on the east coast...

http://drjho.com/jho_institute.htm

Just as microsurgery when it was first pioneered, new procedures could all be considered experimental until more patients undergo them successfully, but I'm curious why you say "at best"? Are you basing this on one negative outcome, or are there many more? I'm sure HEI has had a seriously adverse case scenario or two, it's brain surgery. It's my understanding that when the HEI doctors first started their techniques, they were ridiculed by their peers in the same manner, now they've become the "Mecca" of AN surgery. I haven't been able to find anything negative other than speculative comments about fully endoscopic resection, please share whatever info you may have.    

[eronrabun]

Jamie:

  Very well stated! 

Russ:
  I am not saying that Dr Shahinian is perfect.  I do not think any doctor is perfect, after all - they are humans too.  I do NOT consider the endoscopic approach to be experimental based on the fact that Dr Shahinian has performed an average of 1 per DAY for the past 2 years.  In all, he has preformed over 2,000 endoscopic procedures.  In my opinion, that is way beyond the experimental stage.  I understand the hesitation that many people have.  Believe me, we went through the hesistation period also.  We thouroughly researched almost every well-known physician that preforms AN surgeries (both US and international).  After it was all said and done, I would HIGHLY recommend THIS procedure and THIS physician to anyone!  Less invasion, less recovery time, less potential complications, less negative results....

  Please don't take this post as flaming you.  I just want to provide my experience and opinion.  I know how confusing it can be when faced with such an ordeal and I want to provide as much information as possible.