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Alternate title: Man encourages his wife to go through unnecessary surgery for a benign and symptomless meningioma after she had an unnecessarily complicated th

Alternate title: Man encourages his wife to go through unnecessary surgery for a benign and symptomless meningioma after she had an unnecessarily complicated thyroid removal in order to avoid a 4cm scar on her neck. Oh, he also made a shitty 3D model of her skull in the process.

madengr 12y ago
Ha ha, no shit. My wife had her thyroid removed last year. You don't even notice the scar unless you look really close, and she was back to work 1 week after surgery. The part that takes the longest is getting the thyroid pills dialed into the proper dosage; the surgery is fast with a quick recovery. Robots are not needed for this. There was a recent article saying the biggest factor for successful surgery is the quantity the surgeon has performed. In this case he had done thousands, and did plastic surgery too (hence a minimal scar).
Karunamon 12y ago
Did we read the same article? The neurosurgeon discovered that the tumor was starting to entangle her optic nerves, and told her that if she had waited six months, she would have had severe, and possibly permanent, degradation of her sight. Because I'd really like to think you're being this insensitive out of ignorance, rather than malice.
- stefantalpalaru 12y ago
  Yes, we read the same article but we probably did not graduate from the same medical school. I noticed that the tumor did not grow between MRIs done "a few months" apart so the imminent danger invoked by the surgeon that did the highly unusual intervention looks to me like ass covering and justification for whomever paid for the intervention. There's also the publication that printed the article - a magazine known for its superficial interest in new and shiny tech, not its scientific accuracy. There's nothing in the very low res plastic 3D model that was not already visible on the radiologist's computer monitor. I'm being this insensitive because I'm an adult and I let reason ruin a good story.
- Gatsky 12y ago
  I have to say that MRI is usually very good at detecting optic nerve impingement, so this 'crucial' point which is reported third hand deserves some skepticism.
  - Karunamon 12y ago
    Skepticism, or casting aspersions? The first is smart, the second is just jerk behavior.
- cowsandmilk 12y ago
  Alternate Title: Surgeon willing to perform experimental surgery oversells the necessity of his surgery.
Shinkei 12y ago
I made a more extensive comment separately, but this is exactly right. The physicians were doing the appropriate thing in this case, but if you search hard enough you are going to find someone who will indulge treatments outside the standard of care. If she suffered a major complication or death, there would be no shortage of physicians lining up to question why he took a risk on a benign lesion. The supposed 'invasion of the optic nerve' is dubious at best. Meningiomas only 'invade' if they are malignant and this would've required radiation therapy, which she did NOT get. Therefore, the pathology must have shown a typical benign meningioma. I'm thinking this surgeon got into some fibrous tissue or mass effect on the nerve... certainly could've caused a complication in the distant future if it grew, but you are dealing with probabilities now and not certainties.

madengr 12y ago

Ha ha, no shit. My wife had her thyroid removed last year. You don't even notice the scar unless you look really close, and she was back to work 1 week after surgery. The part that takes the longest is getting the thyroid pills dialed into the proper dosage; the surgery is fast with a quick recovery. Robots are not needed for this. There was a recent article saying the biggest factor for successful surgery is the quantity the surgeon has performed. In this case he had done thousands, and did plastic surgery too (hence a minimal scar).

Karunamon 12y ago

Did we read the same article? The neurosurgeon discovered that the tumor was starting to entangle her optic nerves, and told her that if she had waited six months, she would have had severe, and possibly permanent, degradation of her sight. Because I'd really like to think you're being this insensitive out of ignorance, rather than malice.

stefantalpalaru 12y ago
Yes, we read the same article but we probably did not graduate from the same medical school. I noticed that the tumor did not grow between MRIs done "a few months" apart so the imminent danger invoked by the surgeon that did the highly unusual intervention looks to me like ass covering and justification for whomever paid for the intervention. There's also the publication that printed the article - a magazine known for its superficial interest in new and shiny tech, not its scientific accuracy. There's nothing in the very low res plastic 3D model that was not already visible on the radiologist's computer monitor. I'm being this insensitive because I'm an adult and I let reason ruin a good story.
Gatsky 12y ago
I have to say that MRI is usually very good at detecting optic nerve impingement, so this 'crucial' point which is reported third hand deserves some skepticism.
- Karunamon 12y ago
  Skepticism, or casting aspersions? The first is smart, the second is just jerk behavior.
cowsandmilk 12y ago
Alternate Title: Surgeon willing to perform experimental surgery oversells the necessity of his surgery.

Shinkei 12y ago

I made a more extensive comment separately, but this is exactly right. The physicians were doing the appropriate thing in this case, but if you search hard enough you are going to find someone who will indulge treatments outside the standard of care. If she suffered a major complication or death, there would be no shortage of physicians lining up to question why he took a risk on a benign lesion. The supposed 'invasion of the optic nerve' is dubious at best. Meningiomas only 'invade' if they are malignant and this would've required radiation therapy, which she did NOT get. Therefore, the pathology must have shown a typical benign meningioma. I'm thinking this surgeon got into some fibrous tissue or mass effect on the nerve... certainly could've caused a complication in the distant future if it grew, but you are dealing with probabilities now and not certainties.