If you live close enough to make a personal appointment for your first consultation:

Give us a call at 0049 – 9421 – 995713 (Monday -Thursday, 9.00 am to 1.00 pm and 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm Middle European Time; Fr 9.00 am to 12.30) (Mrs. Beate Prommersperger, Mrs. Waltraud Linsmeier).
It is also possible to send a fax to 0049 9421 995739.

What should I provide for my first consultation?

Please provide all relevant medical documents. Especially helpful are
1. former medical reports, esp. surgical reports.

2. If you had a neurological exam taken because of your back problems, please provide the written report (e.g. electromyography EMG, nerve conduct studies etc.)
Those are necessary in some cases. Especially, if surgical intervention is to be considered, and nerve damage already is present. Or frequently, if previous surgery has been performed.

3. If you have access to X-Ray films of your spine, (e.g. from some years before now) please provide them as well. They can serve for comparison. Of course we can take a new X-ray in our clinics.

4. An MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) can show structures of the spine, which cannot be seen in an X-ray – like discs, nerves and ligaments.
It is not necessary in all cases – yet we need almost without exceptions, if previous surgery has been performed. Or if you suffer from chronic pain over months and years. For the evaluation of surgery we almost never can do without.
Therefore we advice you to provide an MRI for your first consultation, in order to enable us to take a decision in one consultation. . A spinal MRI cannot be taken on the very day of your consultation (which would be possible in knee MRIs)!

5. A CAT-scan is rarely necessary, if an MRI is accessible. If you already do have a CAT-scan, however, please provide it.

6. If you have allergies, please provide documents.

7. If you have a pain diary, please provide it.

8. It has proven advantageous, if you can write together the medication you take on a regular basis (please ask your family doctor to give the generic names – the pharmaceutical names of the substances, as brand names do differ immensely from country to country).

9. If you suffer from severe internal disease (like heart disease): Please ask your doctor to provide reports or a short summary. This helps us to judge, whether we have to take those diseases into account in our therapy.
This is especially important, if an operation is to be evaluated.

Preliminary consultation for foreign patients

An immediate personal appointment is not feasible of course in far distances – e.g. from the New World.
Yet with modern fast communication techniques most questions can be answered first (e.g. by e-mail, by transfer of imaging files)
Especially with major surgery we have extensive experience in completing to decide on all questions before your actual coming to Germany. Then we can directly admit you to the ward for preoperative preparation. If – in contrast to our expectations – the surgical plan has to be altered after personal examination and talk, we can arrange this within the preoperative days.

If you wish a preliminary evaluation of your case, please turn to

Dr. Andrea Fenk-Mayer, M.D., consultant
E-mail: fenk-mayer@t-online.de

Please do always describe:

Please provide necessary documents (see above), especially

Costs and payment

For German patients we of course provide health care within the German health system.

For foreign patients – esp. European countries: please turn to your insurance or health care authorities to find out, whether there is a mutual agreement on health care between Germany and your country.

Other patients (e.g. US-Americans) are kindly asked to turn to Mrs. Renate Hien before a personal consultation or travel to Germany. We can provide a cost estimate and would eventually set a deposit:

Mrs. Renate Hien,
Orthopädie II - Station 23,
Elisabeth-Krankenhaus Straubing,
Elisabethstraße,
94315 Straubing
Germany

Fax 0049 9421 72094
E-mail hien@ogp.de