MDNews - Mid Hudson

COVER FEATURE Bringing It All Back Home: The Center of Vascular Excellence PATIENTS WITH VASCULAR MALADIES CAN SPARE THEMSELVES ARDUOUS TRIPS TO NEW YORK, PHILADELPHIA OR BOSTON FOR TREATMENT. THE HEALTHALLIANCE OF THE HUDSON VALLEY'S CENTER OF VASCULAR EXCELLENCE, LOCATED IN KINGSTON, NY, PROVIDES THE FULL RANGE OF STATE-OF-THE ART CARE FOR VASCULAR CONDITIONS IN A COMMUNITY SETTING. OCATED ON THEHealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley's Benedictine Hospital campus, the Center of Vascular Excellence is equipped to perform the full range of in-office outpatient procedures. Through its relationship L a procedural basis. We communicate frequently with referring physicians to engage them in the care we provide their patients. Ultimately, we produce a better product because we've developed and worked as a team." with Benedictine Hospital, the center's staff also has access to the hospital's new, state-of-the-art angiography suite equipped with an Artis zee C-arm imaging system that allows vascular experts to view high-resolution, three-dimensional images. While the center utilizes these and other advanced technolo- gies, Jeffrey Hnath, M.D., vascular surgeon and Director of the Center of Vascular Excellence, stresses that the experts who collaborate and integrate these tools into patient care drive efficacy and precision of treatments. "Centers of excellence, or good services in general, are rarely the work of one individual, be that a physician or anybody else," says Dr. Hnath. "We have accomplished an environment of teamwork — with our techs, nurses, support teams and referring physicians — in regard to how we treat our patients on 6 | Mid Hudson MD NEWS ■ MDNEWS.COM Repair for a Silent Killer Aortic and thoracic aneurysms commonly present asymp- tomatically — problematic because undiagnosed and untreated aneurysms may rupture, resulting in a life-threatening condition. The Society of Vascular Surgery (SVS) estimates that 25% of aortic aneurysms are thoracic, and the rest are abdominal. While about 15,000 people are diagnosed with a thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) annually, only between 20% and 30% of these patients survive a rupture. The more common and less fatal abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) still creates a dangerous situation for approximately 200,000 people in the United States. Of those 200,000, the SVS estimates a life-threatening situation will develop in about at HealthAlliance

• Cover