Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this directory. However some changes may occur between updates. Please check with your provider to ensure that he or she participates in your health plan.
Last Updated: February 13th, 2012
That depends on how much time you have to prepare for surgery and the likelihood that your operation will require a blood transfusion. Donating your own blood for surgery is called autologous blood donation. In the U.S., it is coordinated by the American Red Cross, as is other blood donation. You
...Read More
A cardiac cathterization is a common invasive heart procedure to diagnose blockages in the arteries, abnormalities of the heart muscle or valves and to measure blood pressure inside the heart or lung.
A cardiologists will use a small tube (catheter) and place it in an artery or vein into either the leg or arm. These
...Read More
Coronary bypass surgery, and any heart surgery for that matter, is performed by a team rather than just the surgeon. It’s the same as when you take an airplane flight; the pilot depends on many people behind the scenes to get the plane off the ground.
Those required are:
1) The scrub nurse or scrub tech, who organizes and transfers the instruments
...Read More
The tragedy of lung cancer is that it is often detected at an advanced stage. The main reason for this is that early lung cancer rarely produces symptoms. For years and years, researchers have tried to identify screening methods which can detect early lung cancer and save lives. The research has focused on screening
...Read More
Primary cancers of the lung are generally divided into two groups: non-small cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer. The term “primary” means that the cancer originated from the cells in the lung rather than spreading to the lung from another organ. Non-small cell lung cancer is the more common type, making
...Read More
Yes, but so is taking an airplane flight, climbing a ladder to change a light bulb, and driving your car to the grocery store. The vast majority of heart operations done in this country have excellent outcomes. As a surgeon, I don’t use the term “dangerous,” but instead I talk to my patients about “risks.” Virtually everything we do in life has risks, and heart surgery
...Read More
Like any pump or engine, the heart has valves which maintain flow in the appropriate direction. Abnormalities of the valves can be present from birth (congenital valve disease) or may develop later in life (acquired valve disease). Typically, the abnormal valve is narrowed (stenosis), leaking (
...Read More
Primary cancers of the lung are generally divided into two groups: non-small cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer. The term “primary” means that the cancer originated from the cells in the lung rather than spreading to the lung from another organ. Small cell lung cancer is the less common type, making up about 15% of all primary lung cancers. Small
...Read More
The heart is a miraculous pump. It works because it is mostly made of muscle. Each tiny cell is able to perform a contraction in one direction. In fact, if they are separated out and given appropriate nutrients, a microscope will allow you to see individual cells still beating! In the heart, those cells are connected together into bundles which contract in an organized fashion when stimulated by an el
...Read More
The aorta is the largest blood vessel of the body, beginning at the heart, arching toward the back within the chest, and continuing down adjacent to the spine, where it divides to supply each leg. An aortic dissection is a serious condition in which the wall of the aorta tears, splitting in two to create two channels rather than one.
...Read More
Online: