Question on # of re-do Hellers a good surgeon will have done- Stefanie!

[Guest guest]

Hi Stefanie!

My questions to you are ... Who did you go to for this diagnosis? Did you have a

second opinion?

( you could just send you motility study results)

What other two surgeons did you call?

Where they true Achalasia specialists?

The results you found could and are based on the quantity of fundo's they have

performed. A more accurate result would be a percentage of total fundo's, how

many are re-do's. 

So if you have a surgeon who has performed 1000 fundo's and 10% are re-do's then

you have 10...

If you have a surgeon who had performed 100 fundo's and 10% are re-do's... then

it is only one!  but the difference is in the quantity of experience and

exposure.

Additionally, you would want to consider how many of that surgeons re-do's are

his own original work...  For example ... what if he performed 600 fundo's and

10% are re-do's which would be 6, but of those 10%, what if 50% are his own

original work... which would be 3 of the 6...

( I am crazy analytical)

then the experience and the significance of a re-do have to evaluated. 

While I understand a surgeon who would do a " re-do " for the opportunity to gain

experience.. It is something to consider and ask.. This is something I have now

seen happening reading the posts on the FB achalasia page.. There are multitudes

of people who have been to I am sure qualified surgeons, but not specialists in

the field of Achalasia!

I am sorry this does not really answer the question, but hopefully it will

provide some questions to be asked.

Carolyn

mom of Cameron

myo'd and fundo'd in 2005

 

________________________________

From: plotwoman <plotwoman@...>

achalasia

Sent: Monday, August 22, 2011 1:00 PM

Subject: Question on # of re-do Hellers a good surgeon will have

done?

 

Hi everyone,

I was diagnosed with Achalasia in November 2007 and had a Heller Myotomy in

January 2008. I had a check-up barium swallow earlier this year which showed

that I was having significant trouble again, which another round of motility

study and endoscopy confirmed. It looks as if my fundoplication wrap was too

tight the first time around, so I'm looking at having a re-do Heller.

My question is, the surgeon my gastroenterologist referred me to says he has

done 7 re-do Hellers. I know this is very rare, but I thought maybe a specialist

should have seen more than 7, so I called two other surgeons today, and one says

he's done between 10 and 20, and another says he has done about 25.

Has anyone here had a re-do Heller? I'd like to go with the surgeon by

gastroenterologist likes, but I'm concerned about finding someone who has done a

sufficiently large number of these surgeries.

Much thanks,

Stefanie