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Methodist Texsan Hospital, a campus
of Methodist Hospital, is one of the first
hospitals in San Antonio to offer Mako
Partial Knee Replacement and Mako
Total Hip Replacement procedures. The
technology is changing the way joint
replacement is performed.
“Accuracy is key in planning and
performing both partial knee and total
hip procedures,” said
Scott Davis,
CEO
of Methodist Texsan Hospital. “The
Mako system offers the potential for a
higher level of patient-specific implant
alignment and positioning, which re-
duces complications.”
The Mako robotic arm-assisted tech-
nology provides a personalized surgi-
cal plan based on the patient’s unique
anatomy. The 3D model of the patient’s
hip or knee is used to pre-plan and as-
sist the surgeon. During the procedure,
The Methodist Advanced Lung Center
at Methodist Hospital is now enrolling
participants in a new smoking cessation
program.
Presented in coordination with
the Association for the Treatment of
Tobacco Use and Dependence (ATTUD),
the program is staffed by certified to-
bacco treatment specialists. It includes a
private introduction and interview ses-
sion with a treatment specialist and six
group sessions.
Tap dancing great-grandmother Jeanne
Froman once again has the world at her
feet—thanks to a heart procedure per-
formed at Methodist Hospital that was
designed especially for older, high-risk
patients.
Jeanne, 93, has been a dancer all her
life. Recently, she traveled to Washington
State to meet her granddaughters and
tap dance with them for the first time. In
2008, she was a contestant in “America’s
Got Talent,” making it all the way to the
competition in Las Vegas.
Jeanne almost had to put her tap shoes
away when she began suffering from con-
gestive heart failure, a chronic progres-
sive condition that affects the pumping
power of the heart muscles. The condition
develops when the ventricles can’t pump
blood in sufficient volume to the body.
For Jeanne, her valves were not closing
properly. She was gasping for breath and
had very low energy
After three trips to the ER, Jeanne
decided to follow her physician’s recom-
mendation and undergo the transcatheter
aortic valve replacement (TAVR) pro-
cedure.
Jorge Alvarez, MD,
performed
MAKO ROBOT IC ARM- AS S I STED SURGERY
Makomakes orthopedic
surgery more precise,
reduces complications
the surgeon guides the robotic arm
based on the patient-specific plan.
“We receive more and more hip
and knee arthritis and pain patients as
people are living longer—and expect a
higher level of activity at an older age.
And we even see it in younger patients
with people doing more sports-related
injuries,” said
Robert Girling, MD,
orthopedic surgeon.
The new robotic procedure:
●
●
Reduces complications
●
●
Increases the longevity of implants
●
●
Improves recovery
“A lot of patients that didn’t have
any of these options before are more
likely to be candidates for this kind of
surgery, which can really add a lot of
quality life years and keep them ac-
tive—doing things they want to do,”
said Girling.
NEW EXPANDED PROGRAM
Methodist Advanced Lung Center now
offers smoking cessation program
Evidence-based patient education
materials and videos will be used. The
center has been offering one-on-one
counseling, and it expanded to a more
formalized program this fall.
Lisa A. Mlcak, RN, BSN, MBA,
and
a certified tobacco treatment specialist
at the Center, said that smoking is a life-
long addiction greatly impacted by stress
and life challenges.
“Less than 1 percent of individuals
who want to quit smoking are able to do
Jorge Alvarez, MD, and Jeanne Froman
it without assistance,” she said. “Even
with full smoking cessation assistance,
the highest rate of success in the United
States is 38 percent.”
The Texas Department of Health
Services estimates that approximately
28,000 adults die of smoking-attributable
illnesses annually in Texas—more than
the number of adults that die from AIDS,
heroin, cocaine, alcohol, car accidents,
fire and murder, combined.
The Methodist Advanced Lung Center
at Methodist Hospital is a premier
center for the treatment of patients with
advanced lung disease, specializing in
the latest diagnostic and therapeutic
procedures. Co-medical directors are
Jairo A. Melo, MD,
and
Arturo Lopez,
MD
.
Napoleón Puente Cuéllar, MD,
is pulmonary medical director of the
Methodist Endoscopy Center.
If you would like more information,
please call
210-575-LUNG (5864)
.
the procedure at
Methodist Hospi-
tal in April. “They
told me it was very
serious, and appar-
ently I was one of
the oldest patients
to have it,” said
Jeanne.
TAVR is a
new option for
older, high-risk or
non-operative pa-
tients with severe
aortic stenosis, a
narrowing of the aortic valve that restricts
normal blood flow to the entire body.
The procedure is an important option for
seniors. “We’re able to replace someone’s
heart valve by a catheter inserted into the
leg, positioned on the valve and then used
to replace the valve,” said Alvarez. “Open
heart surgery is not required as in con-
ventional replacement surgery.”
Many elderly people are not good
candidates for conventional valve replace-
ment surgery because their hearts are
weak. A TAVR procedure lasts about two
hours compared to the conventional vas-
cular access approach, which takes four
to five hours.
“Up until recently, the procedure was
really just for patients that were consid-
ered high-risk by their physicians,” said
Alvarez. “It’s now open for intermediate
risk patients.”
The South Texas Structural Heart
Valve Center at Methodist Hospital is the
only private hospital-based clinic in San
Antonio to offer all commercially avail-
able valves for the TAVR procedure.
Jeanne’s surgery was a success, and
within a few months, she was back to tap
dancing. “I thought to myself—I want to
live long enough to tap dance again, so I
did,” said Jeanne.
For more information on TAVR, visit
www.SAHeart.net.
NEW TAVR PROCEDURE
Great-grandmother
dances to a
healthy rhythm
F A L L 2 0 1 6
K E E P I N G W E L L
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N E W S , V I E W S & T I P S
M E T H O D I S T H E A L T H C A R E