Who are the current "go to guys" in surgery?

[ArrogantSurgeon]

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Which surgeons are considered to be "the best" in the following subspecialties.

In other words, if you or any of your loved ones needed surgery in one of the following fields, which surgeon (from the U.S. or abroad) would you want to be doing the operation? Assume for argument's sake that they could be flown in from anywhere around the country or world and cost was negligible. In other words, who would you want if you could get them to do the operation?

Hepato-Biliary
Pediatric
Cardiothoracic
Pediatric Cardiac
Neurosurgery
Pediatric Neurosurgery
Orthopedic

 

[apma77]

Neurosurgery- Robert Spetzler @BArrow
Ortho- Herkowitz in Beaumont Michigan
General Surgery- Skylizard.......NOT!

 

[Minimalist M]

Spetzler is certainly the guy to go to if you wanted an aneurysm clipped.

Sonntag is THE spine guy.

Ed Laws at UVA is the man for pit. adenomas.

I'm sure each high powered dept has their own top dogs for each procedure, like Mayberg and Barnett at the Cleveland Clinic, etc.

 

[me454555]

If you need tommy john surgery go to Dr. James Andrews

 

[droliver]

In this day and age, there are very few people who are so far ahead of their peers in something that you'd need to trek somewhere cross-country for an operation. There tend to be centers of excellence with a group of talented indivduals rather then one individual to point to. I think exceptions to this are people who have special skills for very rare surgeries or some non-widespread technique or technology.

-Johns Hopkins is where you want to go for your whipple if you believe their published data on survival rates @ 5 years (many do not believe their #'s)

-Cleveland Clinic is about as good as it gets for cardiac & thoracic procedures. Their urologists are also well ahead of the curve with laparoscopic GU procedures as well.

-James Andrews in Birmingham,AL is the orthopedist to the stars & has a cult like following among professional athletes. This is mostly for his judgement rather then some superior technical chops

-Kleinert,Kutz, & Associates (Louisville,KY) is the premier Hand Surgery group in the world with an amazing collection of all-star surgeons

 

[maxheadroom]

I met a patient who was turned down for a Whipple at JHU. He was given a rather bogus excuse. He had it done instead at Sloan-Kettering. The referring physician suspected JHU was afraid his advanced disease would screw up their numbers. (Sorry, don't remember details of the case)

 

[scutking]

For Cardiothoracic - Wayne Isom at Columbia or Denton Cooley at Texas Heart.

Peds Neurosurg - Ben Carson at JHU.

 

[ArrogantSurgeon]

Originally posted by scutking
For Cardiothoracic - Wayne Isom at Columbia or Denton Cooley at Texas Heart.

Is Cooley still operating?

What about DeBakey? I read an article a few years back saying he was still operating well into his 90s. Amazing how somebody right around the corner from being 100 years old can still be operating.

 

[scutking]

I think Cooley is still operating. I know he is pushing it in years, but last I heard he was still active. Debakey is not operating any more. If I'm not mistaken, he was born in 1908, which makes him 95. He is still busy. I saw him speak ~2 years ago on his new ventricular assist device. He still had a sharp mind. The Texas Medical Center has 2 incredible CT programs - Texas Heart @ St. Luke's, and the Debakey Heart Center @ Methodist. Both are tops in the country.