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Any reference for spinal surgery at Miami Children Hospital with John Asghar MD

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  • Any reference for spinal surgery at Miami Children Hospital with John Asghar MD

    Hello, we rencently moved to US from México and are living in Florida. Here we have two opinions for surgery treatment for the scolisis of our doughter. The one preferred for us is at Miami Children Hospital in Miami with John Asghar and Harry Sufflebarger. Please we appretiate any reference of this doctors and Hospital. The other opinion was in Tampa Shriner Hospital with doctor Kronen.

    Best luck to everyone
    Attached Files

  • #2
    Hola Carlos!

    Welcome!

    You have a beautiful family!

    Is that a recent picture? I am wondering how old your daughter is. Does she have juvenile or adolescent scoliosis? The surgical approaches are different as far as I can tell.

    The surgeons you mention have been used by people on the forum and I hope those people comment on them.

    Best regards,
    Sharon
    Sharon, mother of identical twin girls with scoliosis

    No island of sanity.

    Question: What do you call alternative medicine that works?
    Answer: Medicine


    "We are all African."

    Comment


    • #3
      Hey Carlos,

      What a beautiful family, indeed.

      I know Dr. Asghar. He used to work at Shriners in Philadelphia and was/is very highly regarded by everyone there, including Dr. Betz, whom he trained under.

      I know several families whose children had surgery with Dr. Asghar when he was in Philly and the reports were unanimous that he is a awesome, both as a surgeon and also on a personal level, the latter not being as important as one's surgical skills but it sure is nice when you can get both

      Best of luck - your daughter. She would be in excellent hands with Dr. Asghar. I don't know his colleague, Dr. Shufflebarger from any personal experience but he also has an excellent reputation from what I have heard.
      mariaf305@yahoo.com
      Mom to David, age 17, braced June 2000 to March 2004
      Vertebral Body Stapling 3/10/04 for 40 degree curve (currently mid 20's)

      https://www.facebook.com/groups/ScoliosisTethering/

      http://pediatricspinefoundation.org/

      Comment


      • #4
        Recommending Dr. Cronen on our experience w him

        Hello Carlos - welcome to the forum & to the US. Beautiful family - your daughter looks so young! How old is she?
        As you can see in my signature, our 14 year old son just underwent scoliosis surgery with Dr. Cronen in Tampa (but at Tampa General Hosp) on January 3rd 2012. We had an incredibly wonderful experience with him, he is so very caring, knowledgeable, did his fellowship under Dr. Lenke, the foremost scoli surgeon. We cannot recommend him highly enough - our son is back to being so very active - hiking (5 mile hike on his 3-month anniversary from surgery!), playing around w his friends, drumming, piano, etc - and last night actually was playing basketball including running the court w his friends (we found out after, he's a little sore today but he had so much fun!). Every day I thank God for this miracle of our son's back being normal & without pain. Please private message me or email me with any questions!
        LeighAnn LSKOCH5@YAHOO.COM
        Mom of 14yo son diagnosed Oct 2011
        Surgery 1/3/12 w Dr. Geof Cronen,
        Tampa General Hospital T3 to L1
        Jacob's pre surg curves: T58 & L31 12/28/11
        photos & xrays in "First-Time Surgery" thread "Before & After"

        Comment


        • #5
          Thanks so much to everyone. I did start using this forum some years ago when we were living in Havana. My doughter Lia Gabriela is eleven years old. Her scoliosis is genetic due to hemivertebrae and has two failed surgeries in Cuba. I did read a lot of Doctor Beltz and his team at Philadelphia Shriner Hospital, so I was very glad when doctor Asghar told me he used to work with him. We were planing to travel to this Hospital at Phili but maybe we have a good choice here with doctor Asghar.
          The problem with Tampa Shriner Hospital is that there are not intensive care. We also had a great opinion of doctor Cronen. Also doctor Asghar at Miami Children Hospital told us that the surgery will be acompanied with a neurologist and she will be at intensive care. We were to much afraid of a neurological damage since is a complicated surgery becouse she has posterior fusion in her back.

          God bless you
          Attached Files

          Comment


          • #6
            Carlos,

            I think the issue is who has done the most cases of revision surgery for congenital scoliosis. I understand the surgeons telling you that you need neuro on the case given two failed fusion surgeries.

            It's possible Cronen or Ashgar have done many of these cases, perhaps as many as Betz in Philly, I don't know.

            Do both surgeons you have seen have the same surgical plan? If they do then that might be the way to go. If they differ then maybe a third opinion from Betz would be in order.

            I also think that with two failed surgeries, Lenke in St. Louis might be a good opinion. He takes only very complicated cases these days and you may be dealing with revision issues at this point as much or more than the hemivertebra. He does pediatric but not mostly so this may or may not be helpful.

            Good luck.
            Sharon, mother of identical twin girls with scoliosis

            No island of sanity.

            Question: What do you call alternative medicine that works?
            Answer: Medicine


            "We are all African."

            Comment


            • #7
              Hi Carlos,

              If it is practical to make the trip to Philly, that is an excellent idea. I don't think there is ANY situation, as it relates to scoliosis, that they don't have experience treating. If you do decide to go this route, you should contact Janet Cerrone (her contact info is included in my signature) and she will get the ball rolling for you.

              Whatever you decide to do, I wish your family all the best - it sounds like these are all very qualified surgeons, so it will likely come down to which doctor, and which plan for surgery, you are most comfortable with.

              Please keep us posted and again best of luck to you and your family.
              mariaf305@yahoo.com
              Mom to David, age 17, braced June 2000 to March 2004
              Vertebral Body Stapling 3/10/04 for 40 degree curve (currently mid 20's)

              https://www.facebook.com/groups/ScoliosisTethering/

              http://pediatricspinefoundation.org/

              Comment


              • #8
                I'd forgotten that Shriners Tampa doesn't have ICU, but more importantly there is now the fact that she has already had two failed surgeries. I'd agree that because of the revision & her age to check out Shriners Philly as well as St. Louis w Dr Lenke w Shriners.
                Mom of 14yo son diagnosed Oct 2011
                Surgery 1/3/12 w Dr. Geof Cronen,
                Tampa General Hospital T3 to L1
                Jacob's pre surg curves: T58 & L31 12/28/11
                photos & xrays in "First-Time Surgery" thread "Before & After"

                Comment


                • #9
                  Well, the spine surgical plan for our daughter is almost the same from doctor Asghar as doctor Cronen. It is remove one or two hemivertebraes by the posterior way and make fusion and fixed with metal bar and screws. The diference we noticed is in the hospitals, the Miami Children Hospital has ICU and a neuro surgeon working together in the surgery. Also doctor Asghar asked us for more test at this point as MRI and CT scan. They both told us that it is no an emergency since her back is already fused.

                  We whish the surgery not for this summer but for the next. But there is a lot of issues we must be assured first. This is an extremly complicated matter especially when we have only four month living in the US. God bless you all.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Carlos!

                    I agree it is extremely complicated. It is very good that you can take time and think about everything, get all the tests, and plan what is best. I think you and your wife will be confident at that point in whatever decision you will make.

                    It is VERY good that the two surgical plans are similar. That should give you confidence that there is a right answer here.

                    If you can't decide, you could ask both surgeons how many revision surgeries on hemivertebra they have done. If one has done many more then that might matter.

                    I have confidence in you. :-)

                    Best regards,
                    Sharon
                    Sharon, mother of identical twin girls with scoliosis

                    No island of sanity.

                    Question: What do you call alternative medicine that works?
                    Answer: Medicine


                    "We are all African."

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      He's My sugeon!!!! He's amazing!!! The hospital is amazing. Staff were sooo sweet! Clowns visited me, a therapy dog came, the hospital gave me stuff animals. Dr asghar is phenomenal! he clearly knows what he's doing. He really loves his job and connects with his pateints. I have seen a couple doctors an they all said he's one of the best. If ur daughter has a problem even 30 years from now they told me that he will see me again even though I will not be a child any more because only he knows what he did to me. He won't leave you alone if u have any pain as long as he's alive. Thts what his P.A. Told me. Overall he'd one of the best. If another surgeon operated on me I would be fused from T2-L3 (he know because he used to worked at Shriners in Philly) but he values flexiblity over a completely straight spine so I have a tiny curve still (no more than 15 degrees Max). Even if ur not financial strong he offers to operate at Shriners. Trust me you won't go wrong with him

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Kat,

                        First of all, yes, I remember Dr. Asghar from his days in Philly and he's everything you said he is. I remember when the wonderful opportunity in Florida presented itself to him, everyone in Philly said they wished him all the best but were very sorry to be losing him. I know that he is still in contact with Dr. Betz (whom he trained under) as well as Dr. Betz's PA - but I was not aware that Dr. Asghar sometimes soperates at Shriners Hospital in Tampa. Did I understand correctly? Is that the case? That is very exciting and good to know in case I happen to come across someone for whom insurance is an issue. Thanks for sharing that - you are very fortunate to have Dr. Asghar as your doctor!
                        mariaf305@yahoo.com
                        Mom to David, age 17, braced June 2000 to March 2004
                        Vertebral Body Stapling 3/10/04 for 40 degree curve (currently mid 20's)

                        https://www.facebook.com/groups/ScoliosisTethering/

                        http://pediatricspinefoundation.org/

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          this thread was a year old...
                          i wonder what happened with Carlos Alberto and their daughter...

                          jess

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by mariaf View Post
                            Kat,

                            First of all, yes, I remember Dr. Asghar from his days in Philly and he's everything you said he is. I remember when the wonderful opportunity in Florida presented itself to him, everyone in Philly said they wished him all the best but were very sorry to be losing him. I know that he is still in contact with Dr. Betz (whom he trained under) as well as Dr. Betz's PA - but I was not aware that Dr. Asghar sometimes soperates at Shriners Hospital in Tampa. Did I understand correctly? Is that the case? That is very exciting and good to know in case I happen to come across someone for whom insurance is an issue. Thanks for sharing that - you are very fortunate to have Dr. Asghar as your doctor!
                            I know he goes to Philly but idk about Tampa. Contact him. He will be happy the answer! In fact he told us that our insurance was a scam. He told me and my mom," im not going to lie, but ur insurance id crappy" XD And we did follow his advice and switch our insurance and my new insurance cover te surgery 100%He was the man who proved to me that you can be a doctor/do what you love and still be able to be yourself. He's one of the only "normal" doctors in my opinion. I hope one day I can shadow him or may be even be his student!

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Thanks, Kat. I thought you meant he sometimes operates out of Shriners in Tampa for some reason. I wasn't aware that he still operates in Philly at times.
                              mariaf305@yahoo.com
                              Mom to David, age 17, braced June 2000 to March 2004
                              Vertebral Body Stapling 3/10/04 for 40 degree curve (currently mid 20's)

                              https://www.facebook.com/groups/ScoliosisTethering/

                              http://pediatricspinefoundation.org/

                              Comment

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