Laser Spine Institute

Are any of you familiar with them?
They have locations around the country.

My GP recommended that I contact them after telling him I was thinking about RF ablation.

I spoke with a (sales) representative yesterday and set up a free consultation. But after reading more about them online, decided to cancel.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-04/laser-spine-surgery-more-profitable-than-google-sees-surge-in-complaints.html
http://www.everydayhealth.com/forum/bones-joints-muscles/back-pain/what-can-you-tell-me-about-laser-spine-surgery.html

Overall, I get the sense that they are a business first and foremost. Thus, I can imagine the free consult to be more of a sales pitch and rather than the doctor looking at my MRI's objectively, will instead be looking to make the sale.

Cogito, I too was really interested in this place until my sister checked them out for me in Tampa. My sister lives in Tampa and was in the medical field and had lots of contacts there. I called her and asked her to check this place out for me, was really thinking this place may be my saving grace. She had some info already at hand that was not very good, but at my urging I asked her to make some calls and speak to some of the specialists in Tampa that she knows and she did. It was pretty much what I had thought, too good to be true.

They do accept some insurance companies but they are not in network with any company and they want lots of money up front beyond what insurance pays and can do this legally. There has been a lot of litigation against them in the short amount of time they have been in business, more than I am comfortable with. Pretty much anything they do requires repeated visits and each time it is billed as a surgical procedure racking up more money out of pocket. Much of what they do a good PM dr can do. From what I have learned it sounds more like a money making scheme. It is very easy for places like this to come in and remain in business, they have people smart enough to keep them open legally, they have loopholes.

One thing I try to remind myself is many times patients will become desperate enough to try anything if they think they may have a remote chance of getting better. I was there, this is why I had my sister check them out. If things were as good and simple as they make it sound, then every medical facility would be doing the same things they are doing to attract patients. It would not be limited to just their clinics/hospitals they have opened up around the country, think about it.

I am not trying to sway you one way or the other, just do your homework and remember it is not as simple as it sounds.....Susie

I wonder if I am thinking of a different place than you all are speaking of...I have a few friends through church who have had laser surgery for their spine issues and had great experiences....So maybe I am thinking of just the technology but not the actual institutes....

I do agree that no matter where we go...researching the place and it's Drs. is key....

I looked into LSI myself a couple of years ago and what I found scared me.

I read hundreds of reviews from people who had (allegedly) went there and very few of the comments were positive.

More than once I read things like doctor's breaths smelling like alcohol after lunch, botched procedures, people having to go to the ER within 24 hours due to major pain or infections, etc.

As a side note, the technology and types of treatments LSI promotes is "quickly" making its way into "mainstream" medicine. More and more hospitals are now equipped to do these procedures with doctors that are well experienced in all forms of back surgery.

I feel like if the success rate was as high as they claim for their miracle surgeries then we all know we would be seeing more of these surgeries being done across the country. It just all sounds too good to be true, when that happens it usually is just that, too good to be true.

A couple of years ago we did have a lady that posted here at the forum about her husbands experience with them and it was not very pretty. The man needed more surgery/procedures, all had to be paid out of pocket. Bottom line her husband was not fixed and they were close to losing everything because of the amount of debt incurred there at the facility. A lot of what Sandi wrote above happened to them. Not quite the pretty picture they paint for the patients....Susie

The other issue that I forgot to mention is their use of steroids and similar types of anesthetic agents in their spine surgeries and procedures. Of course, if you use those types of meds directly near the spinal nerves, it is going to cause the sensation of pain relief to be there, especially post op...but once those meds start to wear off, patients were complaining of increased pain levels, and on going increased pain...only to be told it was only inflammation and it would go away, or they were doing too much, to rest and take it easy...
Only that wasn't the problem, the problem was that the physical problem either wasn't addressed or they didn't completely fix the problem as promised.
The spine is a complex set of nerves, motor and sensory, and it is difficult for the best surgeons to determine what area of the spine or nerve roots is causing a specific problem, which is why MRI's , CT scans, EMG's etc, are all part of the large, complex picture of our spines, but the biggest factor in a surgeon's assessment needs to be what the patients says and complains of...even then , there is still the possibility that surgery won't work to relieve pain. In fact, any good surgeon worth his salt will tell the patient right up front, that surgery to relieve pain is unlikely to be successful...surgery should be done to repair a structural problem in the spine, not to relieve pain. If the patient is lucky enough that their pain is relieved some by the surgery, then they are fortunate...but it is not the reason behind the surgery. LSI promises far too much, and when things don't turn out as they say they will, they tend to be nowhere around. That's one of the reasons they try to get patients to give a "testimonial" before they leave the day of the surgery.
Sandi

Thank you Mumzy,

I did a search and read various posts, both positive and negative. My concern is that too many physicians, and it seems especially those who enter into these sorts of ventures are too focused on profit and so I just can't trust their assessments. They may offer a procedure that can help me, but I'm going to avoid such facilities until my only other option is open back surgery. Also, I need to see proper studies of procedure outcomes, which do not seem to be available.

I've had a hard time finding a competent spine doctor near where I live, but got what might be a good recommendation last week. The one scoli doctor in my area with a good reputation only treats children and teens. But I called his office and asked where he sends his patients once they are adults. The receptionist (who said she has scoli too) referred me to a doctor (who she also sees). As luck would have it, they had a cancellation for Monday morning and so I'll be seeing him tomorrow.