BCIR Surgeons?

[Missauntlisa]

Does anyone have a list of doctors who preform the BCIR procedure? There is a very old thread on here that has the surgeons that preform BCIR, K and J Pouch’s. But it is very old and doesn’t really tell you who does what. I’ve started calling each and found a lot of the contact information is incorrect. From my research I see that the two main facilities are in Florida and California. However there seems to be another doctor (David Dietz) in Ohio that preforms the surgery at least as early as 2017. I’m searching desperately for this information but it is very difficult to find. Obviously there has to be more than 2 surgeons that preform this surgery. Any clues as to why it’s not more accessible? Thank you in advance for any information or advice you can give. I’d like to be armed with as much information as possible about this procedure. Please share anything you know.

[Bob Webtech]

The most up-to-date list appears to be the one on the QLA website at https://www.qla-ostomy.org/medical-info ... -ostomies/ (David Dietz does appear on that list).

The BCIR is a particular variant of the Kock pouch. While the BCIR has been advertised heavily, it tends to be performed mainly at surgical centers which specialize in the procedure. As far as I know, there are just two such centers in the United States. As you say, they're located in Florida and California. Various other surgeons around the U.S. perform other variants of the Kock pouch.

[BillV]

Bob is correct about the list on the QLA website. There are currently only two hospitals in the US where the BCIR surgery is performed: Palms of Pasadena Hospital in St Petersburg, Florida (Dr. Ernest Rehnke) and Olympia Medical Center in Los Angeles, California (Dr. Don Schiller and Dr. P.J Benyamini). Both have dedicated BCIR units with staff trained to care for BCIR patients. I had my BCIR surgery in Florida and received the best of care. Dr. Dietz does K pouch but not BCIR surgery. Getting more surgeons to do BCIR’s is a very complex situation. The surgery is quite complex and can be taught only by an experienced BCIR surgeon. The prospective surgeon must be willing to devote a sufficient time to learning the procedure, which means giving up the cash flow in his existing practice. Most are not willing to do that. There are other factors that are too involved to list here.

The BCIR program in Florida has detailed information in their website about the procedure and some very informative videos. Their website is: www.bcir.com. You can request that they mail you an information packet that contains a list of about 300 BCIR patients you can personally contact. Dr. Schiller’s website is: www.ileostomy-surgery.com and the QLA website is www.qla-ostomy.org. Both of those websites contain additional information. Some people are concerned about the travel distance between their home and the selected hospital. I live in the northern part of Wisconsin and the trip to Florida was totally justified by the very good quality of life I now have with a BCIR.