I am going to go out on a limb here, but this is something I have been thinking about for a while. Often I hear it said, go to the surgeon that has done a lot of MVDs. The neurosurgeon I have was first assigned to my case, as a fifth year neurosurgery resident, where he assisted on my first MVD. He did my RfR procedure 2 months after he finished his residency, and is doing my 2nd MVD and Internal Neurolysis in 8 days. He is at OHSU, and consults with his boss, who is considered one of the nation's leading TN neurosurgeons. I refuse to let anyone, but Dr Raslan cut on me. He knows the rare problem that caused my TN. He is willing to think outside the box when it comes to treatment. I trust him to be honest with me and for me that is HUGE! When it comes to surgery at Academic Medical Centers and dealing with medical residents, something my mom once said to me came to mind. (this comes from a women that was the daughter, grand-daughter and great-grand-daughter of surgeons.) Medical Schools are up on the latest of techinques, as they are teaching future doctors. As far as I can see OHSU is the only hospital that will do Internal Neurolysis surgery as a treatment for TN. I will be Dr Raslan's fourth Neurolysis surgery patient. I have been told by some I am crazy for letting him do this, but I am hopeful. He said the other patients had good results. Who knows if the surgery will one day become a standard treatment for TN. If it does, I can say, " I remember when."
First and foremost you have to have trust and confidence…you seem to have both! I wish you all the best and can’t wait to hear of your success story!
Huge ((( hugs ))), Mimi
Wishing you the best! You have to be comfortable with your doctor and you seem to be! Keep us posted! XXOO
Cleo, I find your comment to be very condescending. lf one just looks at neurolysis as a way of dealing with nerve entrapment, yes, you can say MVD is a form of internal neurolysis. I had bone crushing the nerve that had to be drilled off the nerve. I have no padding as there never was a blood vessel or artery impacting the nerve. My neurosurgeon has as his boss, one of the leading TN neurosurgeons, in the entire United States. He consulted with him and made the decision to go deeper into the nerve fibers to look for scar tissue and adhesions impacting the nerve, as this is often seen in nerves that have been crushed by bone. So, no, the surgery I had yesterday for my TN is not commonly done as the cause of my TN is not common and when I went to the web including medical data bases, nothing show up.