Surgeon for Mitrofanoff in SF area?

[leschinsky]

I know it's a shot in the dark. My doc has mentioned someone at UCSF.

[SCI-Nurse]

That would be my first guess as far as finding an expert. I would also contact Shriner's in Sacramento, since this procedure is done much more often in children with spina bifida. Often a pediatric urologist will have more experience.

You can also call Santa Clara Valley Medical Center's SCI Center. I know that the woman featured in the MYTV segment of Real World who showed her Mitrofanoff in the show gets her SCI care there.

(KLD)

[leschinsky]

thanks k I'll call them, the guy my doc had in mind is in peds too.

I did not hear Real World had a dis contestant.

[leschinsky]

K when I ask how many times they've performed the procedure what's the number I want to hear? I guess I should ask about their complication rate, anything else you'd recommend I should ask before choosing a Dr?

[SCI-Nurse]

I would want someone who has done at least 20 of these procedures in the past.

Also, ask that they give your number to a few of their past patients who have had the procedure and ask them to call you so you can ask them about their experience and how responsive the surgeon was to calls, questions, etc.

(KLD)

[leschinsky]

k do you give much credence to US News & World Reports rankings of best hospitals? I found UCSF's urology department has been going up from 12th in 2005 to 8th in 2007 (http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/best-hospitals/directory/hospital-detail.php?id=6930043), and Stanford's [which I found is also in my ins network] going down from 10th in 2005 to 14th in 2007. (http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/best-hospitals/directory/hospital-detail.php?id=6932330) But UCSF's pediatric dept comes in 16th. Am I getting too anal as this is out of 176 hospitals that were picked out of 6000 in the country and I'm lucky to have an embarrassment of riches.

[SCI-Nurse]

I lend much more credence to whether or not they are a Magnet Hospital (there are studies showing this makes a big difference in outcomes) and to the reputation of individual programs rather than an averaging of their services in a report like this that is highly influenced by their marketing programs.

(KLD)