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Hello Dr. Clavel,

It was a year ago today (10/13) that I had my 2 level ADR surgery with you in Barcelona. It seems hard to believe that a year has gone by so quickly. I just wanted to take a moment and thank you again for doing my surgery and for your willingness to stay in touch and provide support to me with post surgery issues. Judy and I had a great experience in Barcelona and are very happy we made the choice we did and came to you, and being able to spend time in beautiful Barcelona was an added bonus.

As always all the best to you.

Sincerely,

Jim Procida

Dear Dr. Clavel:

I only have very positive things to say and it would be impossible to say too many good things about you. I am very appreciative for all that you did. I just looked again at the x-rays which were taken after the placement of the two M6s and the side view above the fusions makes a very impressive picture. To me, the alignment of the two ADRs looks absolutely perfect. Of course, you would know that better than I would.


My best regards and gratitude,

Bill Snow

Testimonial

My history before traveling to Spain was that I had numerous cervical problems which needed to be addressed. The severe, debilitating pain and the pinched nerves in my neck had caused my shoulder muscles to atrophy to the point that I had lost complete use of my right arm and about three fourths of the use of my left arm. My suffering was immense and I was deteriorating rapidly. Originally, I was diagnosed with a herniated disc at C3-4, bilateral bulges, osteophytes, and foraminal stenosis at C4-5, C5-6, and C6-7. The neurosurgeon in the USA had removed two discs at C5-6 and C6-7 and did two fusions, which were very limiting and terribly painful. The problems at the upper two levels were left alone, and needless to say, began to cause immense problems almost immediately. Various consulting doctors gave a very bleak prognosis. Essentially, I was being told that my neck would have to be almost totally fused which would cause permanent impairment. Not one of the numerous doctors ever mentioned that any possibilities existed beyond what I was being told. However, I was not willing to accept that and began to look for alternatives on my own.

When I began my research, I knew that the extensive nerve damage that I had would best be addressed by a neurosurgeon with excellent cervical skills. Having had two prior fusions and knowing that I had severe nerve damage from a herniated disc, osteophytes, bilateral bulges, and some other unknown cervical problems at the adjacent two levels above the prior fusions, I thought that my best course of action would be multi-level artificial disc replacements. Extensive research kept leading me to Dr. Pablo Clavel, who is a very highly accomplished neurosurgeon in Barcelona, Spain. His keen intellect allows him to approach each individual case with an open mind in order to listen, review prior medical information, ask questions, and to assimilate the information into a course of action to achieve the best results possible. He was not like some of the doctors that I have encountered in the USA that would formulate a preconceived idea and then try to use their findings to support their original opinion. Dr. Clavel truly is a wonderful man and a great surgeon.

I had surgery at Quiron Hospital in Barcelona, Spain and had two Spinal Kinetics M6 artificial cervical discs implanted, one at C3-4 and another at C4-5. The Spinal Kinetics M6 is the only artificial disc that has the shock absorption qualities, as well as the rotation and movements forward and backward and side to side, which exactly mimic the motions of a healthy human disc. To me, the shock absorption quality and range of motion were the best features and were necessary in order to protect the spine in years to come. I am extremely pleased with the surgical results.. Quiron Hospital was only three years old and everyone was very kind and gracious and always willing to help. If a difference in language situation ever arose, the hospital staff was always quick to find someone to help. Of course, Dr. Clavel has lived and studied in the USA and speaks perfect English, so when he gave instructions to the nurses and staff in Spanish, everything was perfectly clear.

Knowing the extreme pain that I had experienced after my prior fusions, it was hard for me to comprehend that I could possibly enjoy some of my time in Barcelona after surgery. However, I was very surprised with the very low level of discomfort after the surgery. The afternoon of my release from the hospital, my wife and I were able to take a walk around part of downtown Barcelona and enjoyed a nice dinner that evening. The next few days we spent walking around the city looking at stores, enjoying afternoon stops in coffee shops, seeing Gothic Cathedrals, and we even took a trip by train to the mountains of Montserrat. We really had the opportunity to enjoy Barcelona even though the main reason for the trip was for surgery.

This was a great experience with absolutely the best results possible. I will be forever grateful to Dr. Clavel. I only wish that I had known of him before I underwent the first surgery in the USA.

Bill Snow
Longview, Texas
USA

On Nov 25, 2009, Dr Clavel implanted two Spinal Kinetics in me at C3/4 and C6/7. I am doing GREAT and wanted to report the following to Dr Clavel. I would be so grateful if you would see that he gets this information.

In June 2011 I had a checkup on the M6 surgery with a local ADR surgeon. It was very difficult to find an ADR surgeon that would agree to see me for a checkup. Most were incensed that I'd gone to Europe for surgery and wanted to punish me for that by refusing to do a checkup on me. I finally saw Dr Soren Singel in Flower Mound, TX. He is from Germany and, though he'd never implanted one, was familiar with the M6. He took new x-rays, did a physical examination and told me the following.

- The implants were very nearly perfectly positioned.
- The bone had grown over all four end plates, the implants were all now firmly anchored, and barring serious trauma, that they would not migrate.
- There were no signs of facet degeneration, and because of the placement of the implants he expected that any facet degeneration would occur at the normal rate as I age.
- There were no signs of subsidence, migration or auto-fusion, and no reason to think that any of those complications would occur.
- The implants are still articulating, and can be seen flexing and extending in the x-rays.
- The implants had not lost any height (yet). Though he thought they would one day, but that they just haven't yet.
- He didn't see any spine related reason that I should have any physical limitations.
- He believes there is a very real possibility that the implants will last me the remainder of my days. (hopefully 35-40 years)

It was a 100% perfectly clean bill of spinal health!

I've been giving the M6's a good workout. I've completed two more full marathons, two more 100 mile (161km) bike races, and will be in another one on Sept 17. In this year's Hotter'n Hell I finished in 5:40:21, and it was 107 degrees (42 celsius) when I crossed the finish line. I'm about half finished training for the up coming marathon season in which I'm planning to run one half-marathon, two full marathons and one ultra marathon (31 miles, or 50km) I'm trying really hard to get my marathon time down to 3:45:00 this year so that I will have a good base to formally begin training for a full IronMan (140.6 miles, or 227km). If all goes according to plan, I'll participate in one of the following IronMan races; Cozumel 2012 or France 2013. If that occurs, I might possibly be the first person with four spine surgeries and two spinal implants to complete an IronMan. (who knows)

I've spoken with a number of people that have had you implant M6's in them based in part on my stellar outcome. I give you my most since thanks for the excellent job that by all accounts you did on me. To date I've had a better outcome than I could have hoped for.

It's not impossible that we'll find ourselves in Barcelona in the summer of 2013. If we are, I hope that you'll be available for a drink one evening.


Jeff Smith
Flower Mound, Texas
USA