Dr. Sigurd Berven

I highly recommend Dr. Berven to anyone needing back surgery, especially muti-​level fusion. I had a muti-​level surgery in 2015 that I never recovered from. My pain never got better and I could not walk more than a couple hundred yards. After that surgery, and waiting for 11 months to see improvement, I got three opinions that said I needed addition surgery. My last surgeon said I was OK and did not need more surgery, even though CT scans clearly showed that I did. I chose to go with Dr. Berven. After three months I can walk more than one mile without stopping and my pain level has reduced. I live in Oceanside CA and travelled to San Francisco for the procedure.
Than you Dr. Berven.
Bob Mc

Dr. Berven saved my life! I was diagnosed with 3 herniated discs (L4, L5, S1), spinal stenosis, joint arthritis with scoliosis in my spine. I had 3 cortisone shots over the course of 1 year through SOAR Physiatry to alleviate horrible sciatica pain my left leg but they did not recommend surgery. I was in consistent and unbearable pain for about a year and half and when I met Dr. Berven he recommended surgery. On February 29^th 2016 I had a discectomy and decompression surgery performed by Dr. Berven. I went from taking Oxycontin for pain daily and bi-​hourly to no drugs at all and virtually I’m pain free. He saved my life!
I found Dr. Berven to be especially caring, professional and interested in taking the time to educate me about my condition and the procedure. His staff were excellent and I could not be happier with how things turned out. I can’t thank this man enough!!!

i was shocked at the positive reviews, as that was not my experience, with dr. berven. i waited 1 ½ hours, after taking an x-​ray for this dr. the office personnel said they were, «trying to find him.» since they had told me get dressed, after my x-​ray, by the time dr. berven finally came in, he sat at a desk, looking at my x-​ray the entire 10 minutes i was there. never once did he look at me, at my spine, hips, or give me any kind of exam. he started taking about the surgery he could do. since i know i am inoperable, i said… are you serious? he then replied, «no, i guess that wouldn’t be such a good idea.» i could have taken an x-​ray in santa rosa & had it faxed to ucsf, for all it was worth driving 2 hours to the city. what a complete waste of time. and, of course, he was paid handsomely for this ridiculous visit. i will not be going back to the spine center at ucsf. c. gehring

Dr Berven is one of the reasons that UCSF Orthopedics has consistently been rated so highly — — usually in the top 3 – 5 nationally, and worldwide, by their peers. An extremely skilled surgeon and scientist. I experienced a very positive outcome from his work, and saw the same excellent results from his work on a close friend.

Finding Dr. Berven was one of the luckiest things in our lives ever. We had just moved cross country and were looking to establish with a good surgeon for our 4 year old son. Our doctor back home had strongly recommended Dr. Berven. In fact, when I mentioned about the distance, she basically said the drive would be worth it. And so it was!
Dr. Berven is a wonderful person and is genuinely caring about his patients and their families. He had a difficult news to give us about our son’s prognosis but gave us all the information to help us make an informed decision. He was so patient in answering all our questions — we were stumped by the fact that such a great man would be so human and down to earth and understand our emotions as parents. We never felt rushed or nervous to ask all the questions we needed to. He truly puts a family at ease and it is a pleasure to talk to him.
He took on a very complex procedure to fix our son’s issues and in fact, encouraged us to seek other opinions to reassure ourselves. All the surgeons unequivocally agreed across the board. The surgery was a big success and we are so relieved and thankful that we found Dr. Berven at the right time.
Special call out for Mauricio — I cannot tell you how much I’ve bombarded this man with questions but he is so understanding, patient and prompt in his responses. I dont know if he even realizes how much he means to families like ours. With him, we dont need to worry about the logistics!
In summary — I would recommend Dr. Berven without any hesitation. In fact, if he takes on your case, consider yourself lucky!

Dr. Berven is an awesome caring doctor. He treated my son who was diagnosed with scoliosis and operated an anterior spinal fusion on my son almost 3 months ago. He never ignored any queries of mine and answered patiently. Being international he really did the best of his best to ease my son’s pain and did what was being needed to be done. He did a beautiful clean work. The staff of UCSF were very helpful and polite. My son is getting better with each passing day. Thank you Dr, Berven.

My experience of Dr Berven is he is one of the worst surgeon around. He is too busy traveling and teaching to give enough attention to his patients. The first surgery I had from him went well. After the second back surgery (different level) I woke up with not being able to move my right leg. Dr Berven told me the reason I had the leg problem was because he «messed up the surgery because he was thinking about the surgery he was going to be doing on one of his colleagues that night at another hospital.» After 2 weeks of calling his office, he finally met me at the ER and redid the surgery he messed up 2 weeks before. He was more concerned with the fact that he now could not drink wine with is wife (because he was going to be redoing my surgery that he messed up) with his wife before he took off to FL.
Besides, being a lousy surgeon, he is not a very truthful person. He might think that he got away with lying to lawyers. But he still has to live with himself and look himself in the mirror every morning. Not a very good example for his sons.
His nurse, JoAnne said things to me in emails that I am sure she would not have the balls to say to Dr Berven’s face.
Not only would I never go back to see him, I would never recommend someone to see him. And when I have overheard someone saying that they were going to have surgery with him, I butt into their conversation and tell them to rethink the possibility of another back surgeon.
It would be hard for me to believe any of the positive reviews here because after Dr Berven did my first surgery, he had a patient who wrote a negative review and he asked me to go to Unilocal and write something positive. I am guessing that some of the «positive» reviews here are by his urging.
I know awhile ago there was a negative review posted by a doc in Oakland and after her and Berven went back and forth, the post is now gone.
It is too bad that Unilocal forces one to give any stars at all.

Dr. Berven performed a 2-​level discectomy/​laminectomy (L4−5, L5-​S1) on my lumbar spine in july 2012 after diagnosing a large extrusion there causing severe pain down my leg. Immediately following the surgery i began having severe pain in my lower back that i’d never had before. I went back to Dr. Berven complaining of the pain, but he dismissed me, suggesting that i «learn to live with it» and possibly take a class in meditation. He said he did not want to go back in surgically to try to fix it, because i would need a 3-​level fusion, and that was something he was not prepared to do. After another year and a half of increasingly severe pain, leaving me unable to sleep at night and able to walk only with horrible pain, my pain management specialist referred me to another surgeon, John Lettice, at El Camino Hospital in Los Gatos, whom he said was the only surgeon in California whom he would trust to perform a surgery as complex as the one i probably now needed. Dr. Lettice immediately recognized the extreme situation i was in, and agreed that multilevel fusion/​surgery was the only resolution to the problem. (he even told me that there was a recognized syndrome called «post-​laminectomy syndrome» characterized by severe disc pain following laminectomy). I visited the spine center again, this time to see Dr. Vedat Deviren, whom i had seen for a second opinion on a 4-​level cervical fusion in 2008. I explained to him that both my pain management specialist, whom Dr. Deviren knows and respects, and Dr. Lettice, now believed that the only solution to my severe discogenic pain was a multilevel lumbar spinal fusion. When I said that both my pain management specialist and Dr. Lettice, after many months of examinations, physical therapy, injections, and finally a discogram, had diagnosed me with severe lumbar disc degeneration and discogenic pain, he looked at me like i was blaming my back pain on having been abducted by aliens. His resident actually said «Well, some people believe in that,» but continued on to say that UCSF really doesn’t believe in the discs as pain generators or in discography as a valid diagnostic tool. Dr. Deviren said that he would not recommend surgery, because the type of surgery Dr. Lettice was recommending was extremely risky, with little chance of a positive outcome, and that i should just settle for living with the pain. He definitely had no inkling how much pain i was in, and didn’t bother to find out. So… it was a very complex surgery, but Dr. Lettice is a highly skilled surgeon. Six months post-​op, i have no more back pain, i am back at work, and working out daily, looking forward to skiing again next season, no thanks to Dr. Berven, Dr. Deviren or the UCSF Spine Center. They may not «believe» in discogenic pain, but I KNOW that once those rotten, flattened, diseased discs were removed from my body, the pain was gone. I knew it the moment i woke up from the surgery. So if you go to see the guys at the UCSF spine center, and they tell you that there is no such thing as discogenic pain, don’t believe them. I am living proof that there is, and that it can be fixed and that you can feel better again.

My regular pain consultant had not been able to alleviate the pain in the left lower lumbar back region. I feared I would need surgery. After looking at both my back MRI and xray, he assured me that wouldn’t be necessary. He suggested that I get more focused physical therapy and had his associate give me a shot in the left hip bursa. I walked out of the clinic pain-​free and not limping for the first time in months. Needless to say I am very happy with Dr. Berven.
Frankly the negative reviews are very puzzling. He was very pleasant, quite well-​dressed (contrary to one previous review), and almost immediately zeroed in on my problem.

I am writing to offer my highest and unqualified recommendation of Dr. Sigurd Berven, my spinal surgeon at UCSF. Had it not been for Dr. Berven and his team’s extraordinary efforts, I would likely be living with permanent bowel, bladder, and motor function problems due to my serious spinal condition.
Prior to meeting Dr. Berven, I suffered with debilitating back pain for many years, due to spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, and degenerative disc disease in my lumbar spine. Two years ago, I was informed by another UCSF surgeon that the only possible remedy would be a lengthy «front and back» (anterior and posterior) surgery to fuse the lumbar spine and install an interbody cage and stabilizing hardware (instrumentation). Further, I was informed that before the surgery could be performed (especially the abdominal/​anterior portion), that I would need to lose quite a bit of weight.
Although the prospect of such an invasive surgery was frightening, I believed what I was told and set about losing weight. At times, when the back and leg pain became too intense, I scheduled spinal injections, which usually brought enough relief from the sciatica to allow me to continue working and postpone the dreaded surgery.
A little more than a month ago, however, the sciatica reappeared and was abnormally agonizing and accompanied by difficulty with bowel and bladder function. I made an appointment for spinal injections for the following week and obtained a prescription for pain meds from the UCSF Spine Clinic to deal with the pain until it was time for the injections.
Dr. Sigurd Berven of the UCSF Spine Clinic called me on a Sunday morning to say that he was on call that weekend and had reviewed my chart. Concerned that the bladder and bowel symptoms could be cauda equine syndrome, he informed me that time was of the essence, as untreated cauda equine can result in permanent damage in as few as one or two days. Dr. Berven urged me to go to the UCSF Emergency Room (ER) immediately. I was in excruciating pain and uncertain as to what to do and the situation was complicated by the fact that I had never met Dr. Berven. However, after he listened to me and patiently answered all of my questions, I felt enough trust to believe his concerns were valid and followed his recommendation to head to the UCSF ER.
Upon arrival at the ER, I learned that Dr. Berven’s team had already been informed of my case and were awaiting my arrival. Within minutes of meeting the team, they took me for an MRI, x-​rays, and conducted a series of physical evaluations. By late Sunday afternoon, I was being prepped for emergency spinal decompression and fusion, L3-​L5. Dr. Berven assured my husband and me that he and his team could perform the surgery through a back incision only (posterior) and, contrary to the other UCSF surgeon’s pronouncement, could also install the interbody cage via the posterior approach. Thus, I confidently headed into surgery knowing that all needed work would be completed without need for an anterior (abdominal) incision.
I am now four weeks post surgery and am thrilled with the outcome of the surgery and the positive changes Dr. Berven’s surgical and interpersonal skills have made in my life. For the first time in nearly a decade, I am free from back pain and sciatica and am I now able to stand and walk in an upright position. The effects of the cauda equine have resolved for the most part and I continue to build strength. Full recovery and fusion will take several months, but I am confident I am on the right path and absolutely certain that I worked with the right surgeon.
Dr. Berven has an elegant, professional appearance and demeanor. He is a gifted surgeon, a wonderful patient advocate, and, from what I could tell, a respected professor and trusted mentor and supervisor to his many residents, fellows, and colleagues. I commend him to you without hesitation.

My experience with Dr. Berven was overwhelmingly positive. I am repeating this review because they filtered it out for some reason.
I was referred to him by Dr. Jeffrey Saal at SOAR, who specializes in non-​surgical treatment of spine problems. Based on an MRI and a CT, Dr. Saal diagnosed me as having a very large synovial cyst about ⁵⁄₈ inch in diameter impinging on my spinal cord. We tried cortisone injections but they provided only two weeks relief and then the pain came back very forcefully.
Dr. Berven reviewed the first set of images, concurred with the diagnosis, and agreed that surgery should be done ASAP to remove the painful cyst. He noted that my spinal cord canal was very tight in the region of the cyst and suggested that he do a laminectomy on two vertebrae to give the cord more room. He did not want to fuse the two vertebrae because of the adverse effect that could have on my sports activity and the longer recovery time. He explained all my options clearly and we came to a joint decision on how to best proceed.
The surgery went very well. It has been five weeks now, and I am working out again, and will start playing tennis again in two weeks.
I found Dr. Berven’s manner to be thoroughly professional and also friendly. He is a tall, big man, perhaps 6’5″ and 260 pounds. Another reviewer commented on his clothing and hygiene. I found them to be impeccable, particularly considering surgeons have to work 12 hour and longer days during surgery, and have to handle patients’ bodies on diagnostic days.
In rebuttal to the two negative reviews, I would like to point out that neither was from a person on whom Dr. Berven did surgery. Both were cases in which Dr. Berven felt he would be unable to help. Fair enough. If a surgeon doesn’t think he can help, then by all means he should not be offering to do surgery. The two positive reviews, other than mine, are from people on whom Dr. Berven did operate.
Dr. Berven went to Princeton as an undergrad and Stanford for medical school. With his intellect and personality, he could have easily chosen to get rich on Wall Street, but instead, he chose the difficult life of being a surgeon. I am very grateful he chose medicine.
It’s been over three years since my surgery now, and I’ve been biking and playing tennis again. My back is fine. Thank you, Dr. Berven.

Went to see him based on recommendations I got about 3 months ago. Have been chasing his office since then for a referral to a pain management clinic he had promised me. I am in a lot of pain, but that doesn’t seem to impact his team at all — they give me the runaround, never return calls and have not been able to resolve the most simple of problems — a referral — for about 3 months now!!!
Skip this doctor and look for somebody that actually cares about your pain.

I gave a Great Review of Dr. Berven on 1÷21÷09. Please read «filtered reviews» under maryh.
My 1^st review was put in «filtered review» because Unilocal thought it was not true or exaggerated… Baloney!
Dr.Bervin restored my mobility and gave a great quality of LIFE back to me!
I will always be grateful to him and his staff.
The negative remarks are from people that Dr. Bervin did not perform surgery on… what nerve they have to complain.
He gave them advise that they did not want to hear… He is the doctor…

Dr. Berven, Mauricio, his assistant, and JoAnne, my nurse, are a great team. I had back surgery 4 weeks ago and already I’m able to get out of bed, pain free, in the morning and feel better then I have in months!
Highly recommended!

I did not have a great experience with Dr. Berven, I’m sure some patients do. We are all different. There is room for a diversity of opinions on anyone, and it doesn’t take «nerve to complain» if the complaint is based on a valid experience. It takes honesty. I have withdrawn my previous review and leave it up to each person to make their own decision about this practitioner. He did offer, after reading my review, to see me again, I declined but I appreciated his offer and his apology.

Wow, I can’t say enough good about Dr. Berven. Following a bad car accident, I had sought out all sorts of treatment for the increasingly bad pain I had in my neck. I finally was referred to UCSF Spine Center. Dr. Berven could see I was in pain and made sure he did what was necessary to find the source. After numerous tests and exams, a small infection/​fracture was found in my neck. He saw how fast it was degenerating and scheduled me for surgery. I’m now 6 weeks post op and haven’t felt this good in almost a year. He is definitely one of the reasons that UCSF is a leader in spine care. I got my life back because of Dr. Berven and his staff.

I am prompted to write this review primarily due to the others I have read. I have had 2 back surgeries — one trauma, one planned. Dr. Berven performed the latter. I have suffered with back paid for most of my adult life due to spondylolisthesis and degenerative disc disease. Also due to both, I am not in the best of shape.
My first surgery left me with scarring on my spinal cord and a good deal of complexity to handle in terms of a second surgery to correct the problem. I had trouble walking even 20 yds without stopping to squat and pop my back, couldn’t sleep more than 1 – 2 hours without being awakened by pain and needing to get up and walk around. This was 15 years of general «ickiness»!
I was referred to Dr Berven because of the signficant complexity of the surgery. When I met with him, I will admit to the Spine Center at UCSF not running as efficiently as it should, lots of waiting. and yes, the residents can be pompous and grating. But i found that I was able to immediately establish a high degree of trust in Dr Berven’s ability to solve my problem… and he did. It was as personal a relationship as I think you can get with a surgeon, and an orthopedic surgeon at that. He took a generous amount of time with me both pre and post surgery and was an effective partner in the decisioning process. And may I say that not once did he indicate the problem being «in my head» or that even though overweight he never once suggested that the «gym» would solve my problem. Although he did believe it would be an asset in rehabilitation.
Bottom line is that the results were good. I sleep through the night and my pain is much more managable. Given all the issues, I didn’t expect perfection and we were able to explicitly contract (verbally) around that outcome. My quality of life is better.
I would recommend Dr Berven to anyone who is looking to make the decision to have back surgery. From a surgeon, I am not looking for comfort, a «coffee clutch» partner, or best friend, I am looking for the most skilled surgeon I can find who can give the highest probability of a good outcome. I actually found a great deal of compassion in Dr Berven. He was not emotive or effusive and with someone who is cutting on me for 8 hours, I don’t want that temperment. If you have a problem with your back and are ready to be in action on the problem and meet it head on, I would say the Dr Berven is one of the best you’ll find. For improved quality of life, it is worth a little heavy lifting on the part of the patient and to endure some inefficiencies in the UCSF system.

I would like to share my experience that I had with this doctor.
I went to his office for a opinion, as it is the reputation of UCSF give
to any person in looking for answers «the right place to be».
After waiting for over a month, I was to see this doctor, AGAIN, my regular orthopedic who is his dear friend refer ed me to him, (Dr. Berven), on the first visit, he had said that I had a minimal back problem that I needed to go to the gym, and that I had gained weight due to inactivity, well look at him!, and he doesn’t have the back problems I have!, besides his appearance as a health
care worker, he has a filthy appearance, his coat dirty with a nauseated smell. The UCSF rooms are so small that you have no other source of air but to smell what is in that little room. In that first visit, he said that I didn’t need surgery, he also gave his UN-​asked opinion about my shoulder, (I was assaulted and the beaten on my right shoulder). During that evaluation, he saw me holding my arm very tide to my body, he said: that there was nothing wrong with it that I needed to use the Tera band and do exercises. It seemed, I was in the wrong place, Gym?, the puzzling view was that the one that was preaching exercises was a man of over 200 lbs overweight! Still, I left, in regards to my shoulder, I had my my rota-​tor cuff apart 2 cm. and my tendon had a tear of 80% to 90%, surgery done by my shoulder treating physician Dr. Jeffrey Halbrecht, great doctor and surgeon,
I would recommend him to everyone!
In the second time I went, to see Dr. Berven, His assistant a male, about 5 – 3, Spanish dark complexion, rude, he grabbed my MRIS and disappeared, I waited in a room 10×7 feet with high fluorescent lights creating more heat. temperature felt about 100 degrees, no windows to open, his assistant insisted that I kept the door close. I waited from 9:00 A. M until 12:20 P. M for doctor Berven to come, before he showed up, a young student come in, he had in his hand my file and my most recent information’s forms that I had filled that morning. He said, now
tell me what brings you here!, here I’m in pain totally frustrated and
I see this guy come in and asked me that! when he had all the information in his hands?, I told him, I took 25 minutes to filled up all
those papers that you have in your hand and you could take 2 minutes
to read them?, I said I came to see Dr. Berven and I don’t want nobody else! I said is nothing personal but this is not the time to socialize
so out he went. 3 hours waiting and the heat had made the pain worse, I couldn’t seat because my back, was burning, there was nothing where I could feel comfortable, I had turned off the lights
to prevent more heat in the room, I had walked from one end to another end of the room, (4 — 3 hours) I was exhausted, with 3
3 hours sleep the night before, I decided to stand on the door’s, mark, his assistant saw me and grabbed me by the arm and pulled me inside the room, he said, everybody is entitled to their privacy and you are violating their privacy, they don’t want you to know that they are here. What about me! He got me inside the room turned the lights on and close the door, 40 minutes later, Dr. Berven came in then I sat in the chair facing him, by then I was in such pain that if there wasn’t that they had my MRIS hiding, I would have walked out a long time ago! Dr. Berven, with a filthy white coat, greasy hair, he had this smell like a sewage, the room had no ventilation at all and it was very small so this add to my ordeal, still, I sat in that uncomfortable chair facing him. He asked me if I had the MRI? I said your assistant took them, he said I’ll be back, he came back 40 minutes later, he went to see other patients, when he came and brought the MRIS, he said, that MAURICIO, his assistant, the same one that has grabbed me into the room, «HAD HIDDEN THE MRIS»,
I look at him right at the eye, he was lying!, I saw him going into
another patients rooms,. He said that there was not much difference
from the MRI a year ago therefore, I didn’t have any pain, I was in tears because of the pain, he said: now you be quite, you are exaggerating!
there is nothing wrong with you, everything is in your head! He picked up the phone dictation and said that what I had was because of my shoulder, that I needed to be evaluated psychologically, that I was seating in front of him without any complaints. I don’t know how this
doctor is able to practice medicine when he does things like that.
So much abuse, cruelness and insensitivity, Please, to anyone who
is thinking to go to see this doctor, save yourself the trip, your money
and the stress, he is a doctor brought from the horror movies. I hope
that someone out there investigate this man and get him to justice,
he is wearing a white coat and getting highly pay to destroy lives and
induce them extra pain. Please be alert of this honest feedback.