Call for Data, Please

[KimC]

Hi,

My father, (neurosurgeon) and I are working on a book ... I'll save the details for later.

I'm asking for your help in finding data or thoughts on HOW technology-oriented medicine has benefited our society, and WHERE we may be missing the mark, e.g., integrative medicine. What has or hasn't worked for you?

The obvious example is ... we didn't have valve-replacement surgery X years ago.

I'm not asking you to do my homework. Please provide your thoughts if you would like to offer them in this thread. I will let you know when the book is ready, our deadline for submission to publication is July 1, (and acknowledge your contribution if you would like me to do so).

Blessings,

 

[geebee]

Kim,

I don't really think I have anything to contribute that hasn't been discussed on this website. However, I would like to see both sides of heart valve technology covered. For example, the successes of valves such as the St. Jude Regent but also the disasters of valves like the St. Jude Silzone and the Bjork-Shiley (a personal issue for me). I think it is important for readers to understand the struggles that exist with this type of technology.

Best of luck to you. The book world is very exciting and dear to my heart (pun, partially intended).

 

[PJmomrunner]

Hi Kim! I could probably go on about this for hours--what a great subject for a book! Since I really don't have the time for that, I'll try to state some broad thoughts succinctly:

In a society where there is a diagnostic technology for just about everything--from DNA testing to high-slice computed tomography imaging--it's a shame our informatics capabilities are not developed enough to be in universal use through a "medical datanet", if you will. So often the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Imagine the integration of information that would be possible if every test result and every image and every patient contact was available on an internet-like network dedicated soley to medicine! Add to that a streamlined and uniform medical insurance system (did someone say "universal healthcare"?) and just imagine the rise in the standard of healthcare.

Unless or until this happens we are left to muddle through managing our healthcare on our own. The days of the general practitioner managing every aspect of our healthcare are over. There is no "standard" of general care. There is so much to know and not enough time to adequately collect, record and humanly process all the data medical technology can provide in such a way as to give a complete picture of every patient's health.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

One Medical DISASTER that I can think of is the "just in case" radiation to the CHEST for Hodgkin's Disease that was discovered in other areas of the body (neck, under the arms).

We have at least 10 members on VR.com who have had to undergo Valve Replacement 20 to 40 years after being treated with Radiation to the Chest for a 'probable' diagnosis of Hodgkin's Disease.

Diffused stenosis to the Coronary Arteries is another 'side effect' from that radiation and can lead to Coronary Artery Disease and Miocardial Infarctions (yours truly).

'AL Capshaw'

 

[ClickerTicker]

The thing that springs most to mind is the non-invasive scanning that avoids the "let's open it up to take a look" approach. I know from an MRI scan on my knee that the ortho surgeon was able to exactly locate the problem and then go in with keyhole surgery.
Sure beats sticking a few leeches on...

 

[geebee]

How about the "crisis" of coumadin management/mismanagement?

 

[Rebecca]

This month I went to the Women go Red heart conference in Atlanta. I was talking to one of the members of mended hearts. He was telling me that last year at the conference that they had the robot that does surgery there and with the technology a doctor here could use the robot here in Atlanta to preformed surgery on a patient in a different country. We both agreed that we would prefer a doctor next to us doing the surgery.

One book that I read and enjoyed is ?The King of Hearts?. Before the heart lung machine was invented doctor tried bleeding large dogs to do open heart surgery on children. You can get the book at the library. It is the one about the pioneers of open heart surgery.