Forgot about this: Dr. Birkholtz offers a 7-day step-down program from the hospital in addition to the 4 days in hospital post surgery. Huge difference maker IMO and something Drs. Parihar and Lee should seriously consider as well. It is very tough to care for yourself post-surgery, in a foreign country this can seriously affect your outcome in a negative way.
I am glad to see these Drs. being considered more and more vs. less expensive/less experienced surgeons. Other than Drs. Paler and Rozbruch, who are at the top of the CLL field, Drs. Birkholtz, Lee and Parihar offer terrific alternatives for overseas patients or those that want to take advantage of cost reductions tied to not being a part of the US hospital system.
Another reason I am glad to see more prominent surgeons like Drs. Birkholtz and Parihar adopt an open mind regarding CLL: as I approach surgery myself, I was chatting with my primary care physician about the procedure. He is Asian and aside from his practice, a professor at a prominent medical school here in the US. He was surprised to see that Dr. Rozbruch is performing LL for cosmetic reasons, but believes it is only a matter of time before CLL becomes a more mainstream surgery everywhere. His quote: "This has been done in China for many years to thousands of people. Now doctors in Western countries are adopting the practice, and we have the research, money and technology to make it much better and safer."