Question
hi dr Eric ,i have afriend was diagnosed with cervical rib and he feels severe pain in his arm and numbness , please tell us if he can do a surgery to remove the rib in bothe sides. thank you very much in advance

Answer
There are some surgeons that will remove a cervical rib, but it has to be causing severe symptoms for them to remove it.  Many tests have to be performed to diagnose the cervical rib and what is causing the pain and numbness.  There could be alternative treatments that would not require surgery, such as chiropractic.  But you first need xrays and MRI's to know exactly what is going on.

Dr. Starbuck