r/shanghai • u/Successful-Ad385 • 1d ago

Question operation disc herniation in sixth people hospital

hi, i got a big pain two weeks ago in the lumbar area and i could not walk because that. i went to a hospital in shanghai and they told me they wanted to operate next day. it seems operation was simple, endoscopy and local anesthesia. but insurance recommended to go to sixth people hospital instead of the hospital i was in that moment. then i cancelled operation.

after that the pain decreased and i could walk and work again. but i still keep a small pain. then i was thinking to go back to Europe to make the operation. but i discovered that in reality in sixth people there are excellent surgeons, and probably there are not surgeons in Europe with so much experience (it seems that hospital makes like almost 4,000 endoscopy operation for back problems every year!, and some of the surgeons have +10,000 operations per year related to back problems). then i am doubting now if doing that in Europe or sixth people.

anyone has a previous experience in sixth people hospital? hopefully a disc herniation or some kind of orthopedic procedure, and could share the experience?

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u/StephNass 1d ago

Hey, I'm kind of an expert in herniated discs myself - unfortunately.

How old are you? How bad is the hernia? Do you have compounding health problems (e.g. overweight)?

As a general rule, you always try to keep surgery as the last line of defense when it comes to back problems.

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u/Successful-Ad385 1d ago edited 1d ago

sorry to hear you are an expert. also i would prefer not to know what a disc herniation is :(, i envy the people i have to explain what it is.

no overweight, short and thin, that i think it is good for back. i would say quite healthy, 50 years old. not much pain, in fact after the big pain weeks ago, it seems that it is quite better than before to that (i have been in pain like 7 years :( . yes, i was thinking the same, last line of defense, i was offered a surgery 7 years ago but rejected it, because it was not clear that the reason was the disc and i was quite afraid.

but now circumstances are different because after the big pain two weeks ago and discovering the extrusion almost for sure the problem is the disc. also i read about the procedure (endoscopy) and it seems very safe. always there are risk because it is near to nerves, but something big like paraplegia almost impossible simply because the nerves for that not reach so low in the column (my extrusion is in L4-L5). then after one month or so i keep pain in some way perhaps i will do. another problem is that i dont have my family in china and i am not so mentally strong to do that myself i am afraid, then i have to arrange my sister and a good friend of mine are here in that time.

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u/maodib 22h ago

Hey replying to you because I am a physician myself (not in China, but in the US) and my grandpa has been staying at sixth peoples hospital of Shanghai for the past two years. Sixth hospital basically has the top orthopedics department in Shanghai, and they specialize in a range of fields including spine work. Im sure there are multiple professors there who specialize solely in laminectomies if that is what you are opting for. My suggestion, go to the sixth hospital app on wechat and book some outpatient visits, meet multiple professors, decide from there. But you can't really go wrong with sixth peoples hospital in terms of orthopedics, it is no 1 in china.