Is it rude?
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It's a fair question if the surgery being proposed is "out of the norm". If it is a, more or less, standard OHS I doubt the number of surgeries he/she has done makes a lot of difference. One of my surgeons was still "in residency" and I doubt that there were few surgeons with a "ton" of experience back then........and mine worked out pretty well..
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It is a good question and perfectly reasonable to ask.
Unless you ask, how will you know, and you really want to avoid this guy (if you click the link shown it should play)
Like A Surgeon- Cutting for the Very First Time
What is considered rude is a cultural thing. In the US, it would not be considered rude to ask how many. How many were successful? How do you define success? I've had hand problems in the past and two surgeons told me the proposed surgery was rare. One had never done it and a second did about 3 times a year.
I think it's a great question! I asked my surgeon the same thing! Good luck
More importantly if the surgeon says this would be my second surgery what would you do?
Typically doctors have an incestuous relationship. Your Cardio knows an interventional cardiologist or a cardiothoracic surgeon and they usually refer patients to each other.
So if your cardio is decent, he probably knows a decent surgeon and so on.
Typically doctors have an incestuous relationship. Your Cardio knows an interventional cardiologist or a cardiothoracic surgeon and they usually refer patients to each other.
So if your cardio is decent, he probably knows a decent surgeon and so on.
Not any ruder than me asking the surgeon , “Are you good?” before my first emergency ohs for an aortic aneurysm. Actually, I was ruder!
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It is one thing to ask if they are good, or how many they have done. Taking the question to the next level would be asking their batting average for the procedure
Fortunately, it is possible to look up the mortality rate for most surgeons. I did so prior to each surgeon whom I consulted with.
pellicle
Professional Dingbat, Guru and Merkintologist
I think it may be, but like Dick says if its "out of the norm" ... I thought there was some sort of surgeon ranking site in the USA ... either way to even get to say surgeon he's had to do a lot of assisting.
Although not a ranking (they are in alpha order), below is one site with recommended/well known U.S. heart valve surgeons. You can also use this site to do a "Surgeon Finder" based on location.
Recommended/known U.S. surgeon for their specialties in heart valve treatment.
Also, under most surgeons bio, you may see something like "I have performed approximately over 9,000 cardiac surgeries, of which over 3,000 involved heart valve procedures" which will give you an idea on the number of procedures, at a high-level, they may have done. Once you find a surgeon of interest, try looking up their bio on their hospitals/institutions web site. There you might find further details on the type and number of procedures (e.g. AV replacement, Ross procedures, aortic aneurysm repair, etc) they have performed and what their specialty is.
Not at all! My wife's last/3rd OHS was a complex one (3 valves replaced and 1 repaired) and we asked this exact question to the surgeon. How many of these procedures have you and/or your hospital performed in the past year? He said his hospital typical does 3 to 4 of these a year (so not too common). And this was at Cleveland Clinic.
