Deciding on a surgeon .... ?

[andrewmyhre]

When considering hip resurfacing surgery, I understand the value of finding a experienced surgeon.  I met with Dr. Palmer (500 hip resurface procedures) the other day and was very impressed with him and his hospital has a fantastic reputation.   I also had a phone consultation with Dr. Gross (2200 procedures) whose was just as impressive as Dr. Palmer.
Here's my question ..... how superior would Dr. Gross be to Dr. Palmer?  After 500 procedures with a fantastic success rate, could I expect Dr. Palmer to be as talented/effective as Dr. Gross?
Thank you in advance for your feedback.
Andrew

[stevel]

I notice Pat has recently recommended going to a surgeon who has done thousands (e.g. more than a thousand), whereas a couple of years ago it was hundreds (more than a hundred).  I suppose its due to all the failures we have been reading about.  Several advantages of going to Dr. Gross are 1.  getting an uncemented Bioment device (if thats what you want) 2.  minimal invasive surgery (4 inch scar, if you want to pose in Speedo's on the beach) 3. experience to handle complicated cases (if your case is not routine).

[resurface]

There is more to the reported failures than meets the eys.  IMHO, this is not for every patient.  Nice to want a bone sparirng procedure but the technical challenges remain for this procedure.  I have no idea why patients with AVN, cysts, obesity, etc. would have this procedure done.  It was never indicated for everyone.  This risks are just multiplied when these are factored into the equation.  Even uncemented HR is an added risk.  Females.... hummm.  All the long-term data is on cemented HR.

One factor that will help us all is that it seems that there is a chance for a US registry.  It would be nice if all surgeons had to comply and we could see by surgeon his/her success / failure rates. 

Perhaps a bit of venting here.  I am 5 months post op with great results as I have reported.  I am a huge fam of HR.  I guess that I think people should really think about this procedure relative to the factors that increase the liklihood of a successful outcome, including the gold standard total hip.

Best wishes..