New at the BetaKlinik
 

Greetings von Bonn,

After about 40 trips here for clients' treatments, this is only my second trip to Germany since my initial ADR surgery in 2002, solely for the purpose of dealing with my own spinal case. (My cervical ADR surgery was April 2009) You may have seen other things I've written about the BetaKlinik. This is a first-class facility with, seemingly, the best of the best of equipment and personnel.

My case is somewhat troubling and I've dealt with many doctors. I believe that Dr. Reul, with very specialized experience as an interventional neuroradiologist, was the first to have the correct insight into the source of my thoracic pain. I don't know if we'll be successful in getting it resolved, but the diagnostics I've done here are producing good results and I don't know of any other place in the world, where I could have had such targeted studies performed.

This thread is not about my case, it's about the BetaKlinik. Every time I come here, I learn something new and they have new tools at their disposal. I'll use this thread to update the patient community with news about the BetaKlinik as I discover it. I think this will be a convenient way for me to keep the patient community informed about the BK.

A recent addition to the BK is Prof. Dr. med. Thomas Gasser Dr. Gasser has made an unusual transition as a board certified and experienced neurosurgeon, who now specializes in pain management. He has a refreshing perspective and brings a unique toolkit into this practice. (Yes, someone named Gasser, should be an anesthesiologist... but I'm sure that joke is old for him.)

I was impressed with how focused he was on my complete history. He's a great listener and his English is excellent. (He grew up in Germany and South Africa.) His doctoral thesis was on scar tissue formation following lumbar intraspinal operations.

Take a look at his bio that I linked above. He is a wonderful addition to the BK. Dr. Reul told me that he's been trying to bring Dr. Gasser here for some time now. I'm glad he succeeded. Dr. Gasser will nicely fill out another corner of the puzzle that makes spine so difficult. He is a great addition to an already superior diagnostic facility. There are many goods reason that I was willing to incur the expense to come here, only for my own diagnostics. These people are the best!

More later, and more as I learn it! All the best,

Mark

You know Mark, we're all hoping you find the source of your pain. It sounds like you're in good hands. My fingers are crossed.

Dale

update
 

Thanks Mark for writing about BK and the link re Dr.Gasser. I sure would love to hear more about his take on epidural scar tissue post lumbar intraspinal surgeries since I seemingly suffered so long post my 2nd spine surgery that for much of the time (many years) scar tissue was blamed as main culprit of burnng nerve pain altho I tend to think it was an unfortunate marriage of disc multilevel disc probs and scar tissue.

That burning pain/neuropathies are pretty much gone now and I take nothing for this type of pain any longer so I do have to wonder was the autofusion of L5S1 the main thing that lead to my big decrease in pain and/or many less flare ups and overall feeling of more stability. Did the scar tissue finally just sort of fade away, stretch.. hmmm??

GREAT to hear a neurosurgeon of this doctor's magnitude is practicing PM. I"m sure he brings a really interesting perspective as well as toolkit to the table for the suffering patient. And what I do really like hearing about are doctors/surgeons who really listen to patients and give them their time/their ear/their thoughts.

Continued good luck with relief Mark and glad you're taking care of yourself!

During the recent weeks, I have seen Dr. Gasser with a client (and also to discuss my case as well.)

This client has bilateral neuroforaminal cysts at many levels, with the largest and presumably symptomatic ones being at the cervico-thoracic junction, C6-Th2. I’ve been working with this client for many years and have never gotten anywhere with traditional spine surgeons and neurologists when discussing the cysts. All we have heard was that these cysts are typically not symptomatic.

You have seen me write about the superior imaging at the BetaKlinik and this case reconfirmed it in spades. The reason that the imaging at the BK produces such great results is that the imaging process is an interactive session with the technician and doctor collaborating while the patient is still in the MRI or CT machine. The tech paused 4 times during the imaging process to communicate with Dr. Gasser. Each time, the doctor reviews the imaging and confirms that he is getting what he needs and provides the tech with additional instructions.

I very much appreciate the time Dr. Gasser takes to understand the patient as a whole, not just a bunch of reports and images. He wants to understand the patient’s history and the process that brought them to this point. His detailed explanation of what the imaging shows us was very clear and easy to follow. The details that he was able to tease out of the imaging really shed light on what seemed to be an impossible situation.

We also discussed my case. Because I experienced some significant, spontaneous improvement over the previous month, I was not interested in pursuing more procedures. I’ll be looking into the type of therapy that is provided at the BK… functional osteopathy is what I’m after. I’ll post more when I learn it.

I just wanted to write briefly about another positive experience at the BK. It is amazing how much more effective the time and money spent here is, compared to the options we have with traditional providers.


Mark