How much does arthroscopic shoulder surgery cost?

I recently had some repair work done on my shoulder that amounted to simple arthroscopic surgery and was charged $48,000 which was later adjusted to $25,000. The adjusted price is still about $10,000 higher then the average price. Get a quote before you get the surgery.

You may want to look at cheaper options other than surgery:

1. Steroid injections. I think these are only temp helpful. They run about $75-125. Plus I've heard they can eat up the joint cartilage.

2. SynVisc injections into the shoulder join. They say insurance companies here won't cover them, there is no evidence they help, and these injections have only been shown to temporarily relieve pain in knees with arthritis. There is some limited research,

see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17051968?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum.

Also see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18991239?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Cost is about $700 for the meds and $400 for 3 injections.

3. Prolotherapy. Cost is about $1,000. There is a research article on hand arthritis, but even less research showing it actually works. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=DetailsSearch&Term=reeves%5BAll+Fields%5D+AND+prolotherapy%5BAll+Fields%5D+AND+%28%22hand%22%5BMeSH+Terms%5D+OR+%22hand%22%5BAll+Fields%5D%29

and

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10710805?ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

4. I've looked at some of the stem cell stuff. Most of these are out of the country and a bit hokey. I found one site in the US where they can transplant your own stem cells into the joint. Those who charge for the service say it works, but again there are no formal studies which show it relieves pain or works better than a placebo. Just because it worked in one or two people with "too good to be true" results doesn't mean it will help most! They have published some research, see:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18786777?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18523506?ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Cost is at least $7,000, not covered by insurance.