Collaboration: A Good Thing!
- Tue, 2/9/10 - 11:27am
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Vascular surgeons have developed clinical and technical skills that allow us to care for many of our patients on our own. In light of this, I think many of us have forgotten that there is a benefit to our patients to have more than one opinion regarding their most optimal care. As mentioned in my last blog, I recently moved to a new medical center. One of the biggest transitions in my professional life is a setting in which I work side by side in the Heart and Vascular Center with other specialists, including neurologists and cardiologists.
I have taken care of several patients in a short period of time when many people have been involved in making the best recommendation to the patients regarding their care. This includes carotid disease and lower extremity arterial occlusive disease. In addition, I have stood across the interventional table from two different cardiologists so that we could fix aneurysms together with fellows from both of our services. For you skeptics out there, this was not just to provide cutdowns for someone who can not surgically expose an artery. In fact, we did one of the aneurysms in a percutaneous fashion as per my suggestion. We all benefited from working together for these patients. So…stents and surgical incisions can live together in order to provide the best for our patients!
Ross Milner, MD, FACS
Chief, Division of Vascular Surgery and
Endovascular Therapy
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Ross Milner, MD, FACS is associate professor of surgery at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. He was recruited to Loyola from Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, where he was associate professor of surgery.
Dr. Milner graduated Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania, where he also completed medical school. He was chief resident in surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He completed fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania and University Medical Center in Utrecht in the Netherlands. Dr. Milner is currently Chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy at Loyola University Medical Center, Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois.
Posted by Anonymous on February 10, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Reply to this comment »Dr.Milner's comments epitomize how we should approach vascular disease. My personal training has included education from surgeons, interventional radiologists, vascular medicine specialists, and cardiologists. From each, I have been able to learn something new and approach disease states with a slightly different perspective. I am lucky to have been one of those cardiologists that he referred to with the percutaneous EVAR. In fact, I initially thought the patient was not the best candidate for EVAR- however, with his help and his colleagues, the result was outstanding. These patients are complex and the best care is delivered in a multidisciplinary fashion.
Dr.Milner's comments epitomize how we should approach vascular disease. My personal training has included education from surgeons, interventional radiologists, vascular medicine specialists, and cardiologists. From each, I have been able to learn something new and approach disease states with a slightly different perspective. I am lucky to have been one of those cardiologists that he referred to with the percutaneous EVAR. In fact, I initially thought the patient was not the best candidate for EVAR- however, with his help and his colleagues, the result was outstanding. These patients are complex and the best care is delivered in a multidisciplinary fashion.
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