Looking to talk to someone who has been a patient of and had surgery with Dr. Babu Welch who is at UT Southwestern in Dallas? My husband saw Dr. Chan initially but she has referred us to Dr. Welch bc he deals with compression and does the C1 shaves. Based off my husband’s symptoms and what Dr. Chan saw, we think compression is involved. We are scheduled to see Dr. Hackman in early July and have an appt with Cognetti early October. Really hoping to have surgery behind him by then. I’ve read so many testimonies about Hackman and Cognetti. Would really feel better hearing testimonies from experiences with Welch. Thanks so much!
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Not many members have seen him, we were only given his name last year I think…
@TexasEagleSuffer had surgery with him, here’s a mention in a discussion:
My Full Story - Welcome / New User Help - Living with Eagle , not sure how he is now, he’s not posted in a while…
@Minh2025 was going to see him but I don’t know if she did…
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Thanks for the response and the link. Maybe he can at least narrow down what he sees as far as compression goes and help us to rule out or confirm if it’s vascular my husband is dealing with. The experience from the one patient doesn’t exactly make me want to schedule immediately with Dr. Welch, but apparently he performs 1-2 of these surgeries a month. We shall see.
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Hi there. I did see Dr. Welch and he performed a styloidectomy and c1 shave on my left side on 05 Sep 2025. I think he’s an amazing and caring surgeon. Unfortunately, while it has been 8 months post-surgery, I haven’t gotten the relief that I was hoping for as I still have the Pulsatile tinnitus. Dr. Welch even performed a venogram and artierogram at the end of October and that didn’t reveal anything. I would highly recommend Dr. Welch. Hopefully, I will get the relief I’m looking for. Good luck!
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I’m sorry that your tinnitus didn’t resolve after surgery, that was your worst symptom wasn’t it?
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Hi @Jules,
Yes, the PT is really the only and worst symptom. I have neck pain, but I saw an orthopedic specialist and he validated that I have arthritis in my neck. He performed a neck ablation on 26 Mar and that has given me some relief of my neck pain. In all fairness, my PT is a little better after the neck ablation and I’ve also been treated for TMJ. I’m willing to do anything to resolve this PT.
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@TexasEagleSuffer - Do you have IJV compression on the other side as well? If so, perhaps getting the other IJV decompressed would be helpful. Many of our members with bilateral IJV compression have had to have both sides taken care of before getting really good results.
I am sorry though that you’ve still got PT. Very frustrating as it seems the surgery should have helped that reduce or resolve. There is still time though since we know it can take a year or more for complete healing to occur after ES surgery.
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Hi @Isaiah_40_31,
When Dr. Welch did the venogram and arteriogram he looked at both sides to ensure that there was no compression on either side - as my right side showed moderate compression while the left side was severe on the CT scan. Both sides looked the exact same so there was no reason to insert a stent.
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I’m glad both sides are equal now, @TexasEagleSuffer. I hope w/ a bit more time, the TP will settle down & maybe even fully resolve. I’m glad the neck nerve ablation was helpful in relieving some neck pain & to some degree the PT. Have you tried taking a blood thinner? That might help somewhat, too. Aspirin (81 mg) can be used for that as an OTC blood thinner. It would be good to ask Dr. Welch what he thinks about trying something like that.
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Hi @Isaiah_40_31,
I was on blood thinners for 10 days prior to the venogram and artierogram because Dr Welch might have had to insert a stent into the compressed IJV - but that wasn’t ultimately necessary. I am certainly hopeful that things will get better over time. Fingers crossed.
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@TexasEagleSuffer You might consider going to the Pulsatile Tinnitus Clinic at UCSF run by Dr. Amons. After no reduction of PT from the decompression surgeries he ordered an MRI of my inner ear and found the carotid cochlear dehiscence that is the likely cause of the PT. Unfortunately it’s not anything that can be fixed.
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Hi @Chrickychricky,
Thanks for the info. However, I’m honestly not sure of the value of seeing Dr. Amons if there is nothing that he can do to fix it. The positive is that my PT fluctuates. Sometimes it is raging and other times it is barely noticeable. Almost every night (after 800pm), it calms down where I just have the static tinnitus, which is almost not bothersome. Maybe this is just part of the nerve healing process from the styloidectomy or maybe it’s relief from the neck ablation. I’m literally just taking it one day at a time.
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Definitely may just be a time and healing thing. The cause of mine can’t be fixed but there are other causes that can be fixed once identified. I would see how it plays out over time and know that there is a place to pursue it further if necessary.
https://www.audiologycoaching.co.uk/home is another potential resource.
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I hope you find answers. Did Dr. Chan tell you what exactly made her refer you to Dr. Welch? I assume you have lots of symptoms that don’t all correlate to just Eagle Syndrome. I had 2 styloidectomies, which improves glossopharyngeal symptoms/swallowing. I am still having some neurological symptoms, but I think it is CCI at this point as my neck makes a ton of noises. The anchor of the ligament attached to styloid was helping stabilize neck for sure, but it is gone so muscles have to do more work. Driving and reaching for things seem to irritate things the most.
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@jobby99 - I just saw that in your other post that you’re doing PT. Does it seem to be helping?
It seems to be helping. The muscles in front of my neck are not doing their job, so it is hard to figure out how to activate them. Overall, it does seem to help. I also have inner ear inflammation, causing balance issues. Going to see ENT about that in July, since I always have issues after flying. I think it may just be too sensitive to barometric changes.
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Good to know PT is helpful. I was hoping you’d say that as I feel it’s a logical step to take for people who have CCI since cervical fusion is extremely life changing so if that can be avoided by encouraging the proper muscles to do their jobs, it’s worthwhile even if the process is slow.
I’m sorry about the inner ear problem though. I hope the ENT you see can shed some light on what’s causing your balance issues.
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You are exactly right. My husband had symptoms outside the scope of classic ES. I began asking if she thought there could be compression. She said this was not her expertise but that she thought she could see some compression, so she referred him to Dr. Welch bc he is a neurosurgeon
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How is your husband getting on @Acliff ?
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Good news sort of. I found out that many symptoms are from vestibular migraine. I have been drinking coffee and maybe some foods that could aggravate this, so might be able to improve this problem in a few days. Not sure why I have this issue, but that is another story.
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