I should do my research, but where?

[Woodchips]

I have read many of the posts on here about this Doctor and that Doctor. People keep saying do your research but I where can I find real information? I appreciate all the posts I have read so far, but what I have found is that every Doctor is great and horrible depending on who's post you read?

What I want to find out is information about the Doctors in Mexico specifically. I would like information such as:
- How long have they been doing VSG, and how many?
-Where did they study/train for VSG?
-What are the Dr's re-treatment rates? (how many surgeries do they need to re-do/fix, not including the patient not following the plan)
-Infections rates?
-Leakage rates?

I think I have narrowed my choice down to Dr Ariel Ortiz, Dr Almanza, and Dr Quinones.

Thanks in advance!

[Ann2]

I did not get my surgery done in Mexico. But, like you, I've read a lot of posts who rave about their docs. Some of those people are recruiters / salespeople for those docs. It is what it is.

It doesn't seem from anything I've read here or elsewhere online that the kind of comprehensive information about Mexican surgeons' records is readily available. Nor, to my knowledge, is there a central repository with that kind of information about US surgeons' records.

The Mexican surgeons as a group seem tremendously experienced in doing WLS. Many of them have done many thousands of these surgeries.

There seems to be a big variation in how many WLS surgeries a surgeon does each day. I've heard of surgeons doing as few as two a day and others doing nearly 20 surgeries a day.

I don't think you should expect to find a surgeon who's never had any complications or even 30 days post-op mortalities. I think what you would hope to learn is how they respond to and deal with and assist other surgeons who are repairing their patients' complications. Sending surgical records to the repairing surgeon should be table stakes. But apparently not all are that cooperative. And if they're not assisting in that way, then you don't want 'em.

Finally, I would caution you to check the references of your references. Who's raving about Dr. X? Do they have a financial interest in your having surgery with Dr. X? Anyone who loves Dr. X and despises Dr. Y is probably a loon.

[rockscott40]

I praise Dr. Almanza and his team.....

[newclear]

I don't think that you'll find the specifics you're talking about independently without investigation most people don't have time for. I did ask my doctor for this information, but again, it's not a collective independent input or survey of patients. What you're asking for is difficult to get from a non-self reporting source, and it's difficult for others to obtain unless there has been some gross abuse of a particular doctor/facility, warranting a public investigation and disclosure of findings/warnings. Even stateside, it takes time for medical abuses to surface resulting in public report. Keep in mind that privacy protection results in restricted access to records anywhere I'd elect to undergo medical care, sometimes to the detriment of future patients.

The research I did looked at meta-analysis for the entire procedure, which also took a look at location specific incidents. I looked for academic papers, which included country specifics. Looking for certification criterion, such as SAGES or ASMBS member/recognised or a centre of excellence is a good start to estimating your risk factor. Also consider the risks of volume surgeons (often medical tourism surgeons) vs a low volume surgeon (probably more typically US/Canada/W. Euro surgeon). Yes, you'll see patient reviews, sometimes false, but how do you determine which is true even for the American doctors? Perhaps your focus is too narrow to give you the reassurance you're looking for. Keep in mind that the surgery is still relatively new. Collecting enough meaningful data and doing group specific (eg. by start bmi, conversion patients, re-op, ailments, etc) analysis that may have an impact on results will take time. Your personal starting point may have implications to your results. I've seen different studies that contradicts the other to certain extents, and then you'll have outlier cases like the band to sleeve patient who had a late leak (I think >6 months post-op).

On a personal note, I selected Dr. Ortiz. I've posted about the draw backs and ups of selecting OCC. I don't regret my choice, but I wish I'd known to make certain requests prior to going under... such as meeting the dude who's going to hack into me and remove a significant portion of a vital organ. I'm 10 months out, complication free, and happy with the results. This of course doesn't mean it will be your outcome. Just remember that this surgery, regardless of where you do it, has risks, it's a matter of what's acceptable risk to you with the information to which you have access. Best wishes!

[Stacy'sSleevedLife]

It depends if you can read Spanish or speak Spanish then there are several places to go to check about when they got their license and where they went to school. You can also google their name and usually if there is any bad newspaper articles or news cast they will show up.
Line Ann2 said there are doctors that do only 2 or 3 and then there are those who do 10 to 20 and that would be something that would scare me. The average surgery is 45 min to 1 1/2 hours. Even if a doctor did 10 surgery's that would mean 10 hours of table time now even if they had 2 OR's and the average time to clean an OR is 45 min to an hour. So 5 hour to clean each OR and 10 hour of surgery, would you want to be patient 10? If your looking into Mexico and these 3 doctors I would talk to the coordinators for each. Ask questions about the doctor ask all the question you listed and get the answers from them see how knowledgeable they are, can they answer you questions or are they just making a sale. Ask about the procedure it's self and make sure they can answer all your questions about all the procedures, they should be able to help you make an informative decision.

I went to Tijuana and had mine with Dr. Quinones, I can tell you why I chose him over others.
1. He only does 3 surgeries a day.
2. He speaks English, I do not speak Spanish.
3. My recovery was in a private hospital not a hotel.
4. He does 4 leak test and I have a copy of my surgery that I could give my PCP.
5. I had a patient lesion there to help me with what ever I need 24 hours a day.
6. Dr. Q is a general surgeon along with being WLS surgeon who also is a surgical proctor for WLS.

These were the things that made me choose Dr. Quinones over all the surgeons 2 years ago.

My best suggestion is ask questions, the more information you have the more of an informative decision you can make.

Good luck