[Aaron]

That is the exact level I have a herniation T6-T7, along with tears in 3 discs around it. I have not heard numbers as low as 50 satisfaction rate, and that may be due to the muscle damage used in the old surgury. Also I have heard from several great Thorasic docs that the ribs allow for less adjacent degenerationg after fusion. The ribs limit the movement and help with stress on adjacent levels. I warn you thorasic spine is extremely tricky and a surgeon not familiar with it can cause you more harm than good. I have done alot of reas. and Dickman, Regan, Perrin are about the only I would trust to cut on me in that area. There are some thorasic surguries that are less invasive now, VATS, dickmans surgury ( forgot name). Both regan and dickman basically wrote books on thorasic spine surgury. Spine health recently had girl have the big surgury, fused that level she is doing good. She has pics of scar, and talks about it alot. Its in the back surgury section, says thorasic surgury. I warn you it is very hard to locate many with that surgury. Mark is dealing with thorasic issues now so he is a good person to talk to.