My Overseas Doctor | Affordable Healthcare Abroad

By VICKI ROCK
Daily American Staff Writer
Saturday, August 4, 2007 12:00 AM EDT

Lori Johnson, Oldsmar, Fla., and her husband, Steven, came to Somerset to renew their wedding vows and to attend the baptism of Cole Johnson, their daughter, Kelsey Johnson’s, baby.

The former Lori Qualters is originally from Somerset. On Saturday, she was in the bathroom brushing her teeth and collapsed. She had a heart attack. While Johnson is only 46, she had had three stents put in arteries of her heart in Florida. She was a smoker up until about four months ago. Somerset Area Ambulance Association took her to Somerset Hospital, which has a cardiac catheterization laboratory where angioplasty is performed. Angioplasty is a procedure that uses a balloon-tipped catheter to open blocked arteries and restore blood flow to the heart.

“I remember being given nitro (nitroglycerin) and being in pain,” Johnson said. “Everybody kept holding my hand.”

Emergency room physician Dr. Prakash Ghatge could see changes in the electrocardiogram and called in Dr. Cyril Nathaniel, medical director of interventional cardiology at Somerset Hospital.

Johnson had 100 percent blockage in an artery that circles one side of the heart, Sue Schimpf, registered nurse, said. That was the cause of the attack.
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Shroff Eye Hospital is the first eye clinic in India to be certified by Joint Commission International - the international body that certifies medical care facilities around the world. Shroff Eye Hospital has been providing quality eye-care in India since 1919, and some of their specialties include:

• A macular degeneration clinic utilizing photo dynamic therapy
• Ocular trauma, where they use Vitreo-retinal surgery to prevent loss of vision in patients with severe eye trauma caused by blunt force or penetrating injuries
• A cornea clinic where they have been performing LASIK procedures since 1997
• A squint/pediatric opthalmology clinic where they specialize in children with “cross eyes” (strabismus) and “lazy eyes” (amblyopia)

Shroff Eye Hospital has been performing path-breaking research in many important fields such as: age-related macular degeneration, cataract surgery and glaucoma.

A number of their physicians have trained and practiced medicine in the USA and United Kingdom. Shroff is also a pioneer in Wavefront Lasik procedures - one of the most advanced Lasik procedures available today.

For more information, please visit their site here.

Jill Marlow remembers the moment Dr. Milan Mody held up the prototype of a device and said, this will be your spine.

It was a model of the lower lumbar section of the spine with four spaces consisting of flexible tubing and nylon cord on each side of the fifth and fourth lumbar vertebrae. They were held in place by two-inch screws.

“It was scary and interesting at the same time,” said Marlow, of Shreveport, in her fifth week of recovery after surgery to implant the device designed to offer more natural mobility for patients needing spinal fusion.

“I have no back pain at all,” she said. “The only pain I have right now is nerve and muscle pain, and that should eventually get better.”

About 80 percent of Americans will at some point suffer with back pain; said Mody of The Orthopedic Clinic in Shreveport, who performed the procedure to implant the Dynesys dynamic stabilization system in Marlow.

“Most, about 85 percent, will get better without surgery,” he said. “But done for the right reasons and after trying everything else, surgery can be the right answer. But Dynesys won’t be for everybody. Some people will still need spinal fusion.”

The device is an option for patients needing spinal fusion due degenerative slipped disc in the thoracic, lumbar or sacral regions. It offers a more natural function of the spine compared to the traditionally rigid metal rods used in spinal fusion.

The rest of the article may be found here …

ISLAMABAD: Heart specialists perform an estimated 1.2 million angioplasty procedures each year, according to the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions.
But are they all necessary?

That depends on whom you ask, and what studies you cite. Conventional cardiology wisdom has long held that heart attacks occur because arteries blocked by the buildup of plaque starve the organ of blood, sending it into a condition called infarction. Under that model, angioplasty, stenting (placing of a wire mesh structure in the blood vessel) and bypass surgery all make a certain amount of sense.

Angioplasty lets doctors thread a snake-like device with a balloon on the end into diseased and narrowed arteries. Inflating the balloon opens the blockage. Usually, cardiologists will leave behind one or more tiny metal scaffolds, called stents, as insurance.

Continue reading the rest here at the Pakistani Tribune website…

When Carrollton resident Brian Woods needed laser eye surgery last year, he scrutinized options in North Texas for the best deal.

McAllen resident Cesar Vega was concerned about the long wait he faced to treat his broken leg after a motorcycle accident during the weekend leading into the July 4 holiday.

Both ended up in Monterrey, Mexico. Traditionally, the city’s affluent residents have traveled to Dallas, Houston or San Antonio for their medical needs.

“All around I was very impressed, and the experience surpassed any expectation I had,” Mr. Woods said. “I could have been in Zurich, Switzerland, but it was Mexico. I found the care to be top quality, what you would expect at a U.S. hospital and more.”

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