Questions for Mark - or anyone else who might know the answers

[treefrog]

All right, so I have a few questions here, for Mark or anyone who has some answers.

1) How many TDR surgeries should a surgeon have done in his career (per year), to be considered qualified enough to be considered "expert" and a surgeon that I should feel safe with?

2) Are there surgeons in the US who are considered "expert" in multi-level lumbar TDR surgery, whom I could go to for a consult? Who are they, how do I contact them?

3) Are there US surgeons who do multi-level lumbar TDR surgery? Who? (I guess the question here is cost?)

4) I haven't found any clinical trials in the US for 2-level lumbar TDR, are there any? Are there any elsewhere in the world, that I should consider?

5) As far as images of x-rays/mri/etc, what format should I ask for them in, so that I can easily send them for consultations (or for setting up a profile on GPN)?

6) If I decide to have surgery someplace outside of the US, what kind of protections do US patients have in case something goes wrong (like leaving a sponge inside, that kind of thing), or are there any?

Those are all I can think of right now. Thanks in advance. I appreciate any help I can get.