Dr. Smedira from Cleveland?

[AtlantaPat]

My cardiologist is out of town now at a conference, but when I spoke to him briefly earlier this week, he mentioned possibly referring me for surgery to Dr. Nicholas Smedira at the Cleveland Clinic. Has anyone had experience with him?

I'm hoping I'm a candidate for robotic mitral repair surgery (my cardio's also contacting Dr. Chitwood at ECU in North Carolina), but from what I can tell, Cleveland doesn't use the da Vinci system for valve repair...or maybe they do: it appears a Dr. Jose Navia at Cleveland may. Otherwise, it seems "minimally-invasive" at Cleveland means the mini-sternotomy.

I'm sure I'm jumping the gun on this, as my cardiologist and I are supposed to talk again later next week, but my curiousity's getting the best of me!

Thanks!
Pat
in the waiting room for mitral valve repair

 

[Rebecca]

Saint Joseph's Hospital in Atlanta offer minimally-invasive open heart surgery using daVinci robot. Emory Crawford Long does not have the daVinci robot.

 

[AtlantaPat]

We'd be happy...

We'd be happy...

...to have my surgery done at St Joseph's here in Atlanta, but my cardiologist seems to be leaning toward other hospitals. He's not pushing Emory (his own), so I'm confident that he's not in any way trying to steer my "business" their way.
I'd probably be asking already why NOT Atlanta and St Joseph's but we're blessed in that my insurance benefits are fantastic and I'm covered whether we go to Cleveland, East Carolina or here in Atlanta.
If I had any sense that I was being nudged toward inferior care, I'd be balking, but I'm comfortable with all the options he's talking about so far (and he hasn't actually made his recommendations yet, so I may be making some assumptions prematurely about what he'll end up suggesting). My wife's accomodations out of town are an easy problem to solve in that I have a zillion hotel frequent stay points from a time when I traveled a lot for business, so if we need to hunker down in a Residence Inn or someplace like that for a week before I can make a post-op flight or drive, it won't cost a ton of out-of-pocket money.
I may still end up asking my cardiologist "why not Atlanta?" but for now I'm just taking it all in
That said, I am sort of curious what prompts a cardiologist to recommend this or that surgeon. I assume to some degree it's who they know, but are there rivalries that would make one of them look past an obvious local option for a surgeon?

Pat

 

[msiwik]

My cardiologist is out of town now at a conference, but when I spoke to him briefly earlier this week, he mentioned possibly referring me for surgery to Dr. Nicholas Smedira at the Cleveland Clinic. Has anyone had experience with him?

I'm hoping I'm a candidate for robotic mitral repair surgery (my cardio's also contacting Dr. Chitwood at ECU in North Carolina), but from what I can tell, Cleveland doesn't use the da Vinci system for valve repair...or maybe they do: it appears a Dr. Jose Navia at Cleveland may. Otherwise, it seems "minimally-invasive" at Cleveland means the mini-sternotomy.

I'm sure I'm jumping the gun on this, as my cardiologist and I are supposed to talk again later next week, but my curiousity's getting the best of me!

Thanks!
Pat
in the waiting room for mitral vavle repair

Pat - He is well thought of at the Clinic. He operated on the sister of a good friend and they thought well of him (multiple valve replacement) and he was recommended for my surgery. Good luck to you.

 

[Turkey Hunter]

Dr. Smedira is awesome.....

Dr. Smedira is awesome.....

He was one of my surgeon's five years ago.

He is an amazingly talented surgeon. If you have the means to go to Clevland Clinic, I highly reccomend your trip. At minimum, it is worth the trip for their oppinion.

Feel free to e-mail me & I will be happy to answer any question you have.

Ben Smith

 

[barbwil]

da Vinci

da Vinci

http://www.clevelandclinic.org/heartcenter/pub/history/future/robotics.asp

I assume that you have gone on the CCF site but just in case you haven't this is the site that explains the procedure in good detail.
Others who have not investigated it might be interested also.

God bless, Barb

 

[Rebecca]

Hi Pat,
The next time you see your cardiologist ask him why he doesn?t recommend Saint Joseph? Your cardiologist is the one we see on TV all the time?

Saint Joseph's Hospital Named Exclusive Southeast Training Center for Robotic Surgery
http://www.medicalnewsservice.com/fullstory.cfm?storyID=2473&fback=yes

Saint Joseph?s named training site for robotic surgery
http://www.stjosephsatlanta.org/ind...ws&PHPSESSID=4528edc5358bb2e3e2519a55cb59a0fd

 

[RCB]

My cardiologist is out of town now at a conference, but when I spoke to him briefly earlier this week, he mentioned possibly referring me for surgery to Dr. Nicholas Smedira at the Cleveland Clinic. Has anyone had experience with him?

I'm hoping I'm a candidate for robotic mitral repair surgery (my cardio's also contacting Dr. Chitwood at ECU in North Carolina), but from what I can tell, Cleveland doesn't use the da Vinci system for valve repair...or maybe they do: it appears a Dr. Jose Navia at Cleveland may. Otherwise, it seems "minimally-invasive" at Cleveland means the mini-sternotomy.

I'm sure I'm jumping the gun on this, as my cardiologist and I are supposed to talk again later next week, but my curiousity's getting the best of me!

Thanks!
Pat
in the waiting room for mitral valve repair

Pat,
While Dr. Smedira is a world class surgeon, if your hoping for a repair and
willing to go to CCF, there is no better for that type of surgery then Cosgrove.
Good luck!