Achievements and innovations in surgery

2008 Presidential Clinical Excellence Award:Wayne Schwesinger, MD, Professor of Surgery (Division of General & Laparoendoscopic Surgery), awarded the 2008 Clinical Excellence Award on January 31, 2008. This award recognizes Dr. Schwesinger's superlative clinical service here at the Health Science Center and in the San Antonio community. View video about Dr. Schwesinger. (1-15-08)

2007 Presidential Clinical Excellence Award: Congratulations to Dr. Boulos Toursarkissian for his selection as one of the recipients of the 2007 Presidential Clinical Excellence Award. Dr. Toursarkissian was selected for this honor by a committee of Health Science Center employees and his peers. President Cigarroa presented the award at the annual Presidential Awards Ceremony on January 25, 2007.

America's Top Doctors - Each year, Castle Connolly Medical Ltd.'s research team surveys thousands of physicians in order to identify the very best U.S. physicians.

Texas Super Doctors - Every year, Texas Monthly publishes their list of Texas' Super Doctors - the top medical practitioners in 29 medical practice areas.
 

Groundbreaking Innovations in Surgery

New lung cancer procedure is less invasive: A new surgical procedure for early-stage lung cancer is helping patients recover more quickly and without as much pain as the traditional operation. Daniel DeArmond, MD, Cardiothoracic Surgery, is one of only a very small number of thoracic surgeons in San Antonio who is performing the new video-assisted thoracic surgery procedure (VATS). View KENS-5 video | SA Express-News article | More about Dr. DeArmond | More about VATS procedures (3-14-08)

Congenital heart program collaboration is saving the tiniest of lives.
Colman Collins turned 2 on March 30 - he is an active, energetic child today, thankfully, in part due to the care of John H. Calhoon, M.D., Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery, and James H. Rogers, MD, medical director of the Children's Heart Network. Click here to read more about this life-changing surgery.
Learn more about the Congenital Heart Surgery collaborative service

Double-lung recipient, wife hope their story will help other families
Lloyd and Ruth Wilkins of Redwood City, Calif., wrote firsthand accounts of their quest to get Lloyd a lung transplant, a hunt that ended when they learned about The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio / University Hospital lung transplant program. Lloyd, a high-risk case because of his lung disease, underwent a double-lung transplant June 6, 2005, at University Hospital, one of the Health Science Center's primary teaching hospitals. He is doing very well. John Calhoon, M.D., professor of surgery and Calhoon President's Council Chair for Excellence in Surgery at the Health Science Center, led the team that performed the transplant. Because of highly innovative procedures to preserve donor lungs and to stabilize patients awaiting transplant, the UTHSCSA/UHS lung transplant program has among the shortest waiting times among U.S. medical centers for patients needing single or double lungs. Read more about this innovative surgery and the Wilkins' story.

Life-giving rare heart transplant
"Her heart was located to the right side and backward with a number of strange connections of the veins and arteries," said John Calhoon, M.D., professor and chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the Health Science Center. Our team gave her a new heart and did all of the plumbing necessary to put her heart where it belongs in her left chest. It is a first for us in San Antonio, to my knowledge, and is a very rare kind of transplant." Click here to read more about this groundbreaking procedure.

Thoracic Endograft: a new, less invasive repair technique
San Antonio firefighter Rob Gonzales suffered a lacerated spleen, severe concussion, broken leg and other injuries including a small tear in the lining of his thoracic aorta in an SUV vs. motorcycle accident. During 33 days at Wilford Hall Medical Center, Gonzales was not well enough for surgeons to open his chest to fix the aorta. After stabilizing his other injuries, a plan developed for correcting the problem in a minimally invasive way, making use of the expertise of a newly recruited vascular surgery faculty member, Maureen Sheehan, M.D., who brought with her a repair technique called a thoracic endograft. Click here to read more about Dr. Sheehan's innovative thoracic endograft surgical technique.

HSC-Christus Santa Rosa team gives Laredo teen a new heart
John H. Calhoon, M.D., the Calhoon President's Council Chair for Excellence in Surgery at the Health Science Center, has performed more than 2,500 lifesaving surgeries to repair congenital heart defects and other abnormalities in South Texas children. In December 2005, 16-year-old Andy Linares of Laredo, underwent a heart transplant led by Dr. Calhoon at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Medical Center Hospital. The surgical team also included Charles Moore, M.D., director of heart transplantation at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa and associate clinical professor of surgery at the Health Science Center. The team, supported by many other health professionals, exemplifies the excellent collaboration between the Health Science Center and CHRISTUS Santa Rosa. Read more about this lifesaving transplant
Learn more about the Congenital Heart Surgery collaborative service

Special accomplishments in cardiothoracic surgery

• Largest experience with endovascular treatment of thoracic aortic disease in San Antonio. Per Gore (the only currently approved FDA device), our group, in particular V. Seenu Reddy, MD, MBA Associate Professor of Surgery and Director of Thoracic Aortic Surgery, has done the most implants in San Antonio.
• Highest volume in San Antonio of beating heart surgery as well as 'clampless' beating heart surgery using proximal heartstring anastomotic device.
• Minimally invasive valve surgery by Edward Y. Sako, MD, PhD, Professor of Surgery, and Chief of Surgery and Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery for South Texas Veterans Healthcare System.
• Closed chest surgery for ablation by V. Seenu Reddy, MD, MBA, with Manoj A. Panday, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, specialist in Cardiac Electrophysiology.

Inside Job – Endovascular Experts: With new technology and the addition of top-notch faculty, the program has expanded to include the less-invasive technique for the thoracic aorta. The program takes a multidisciplinary approach to health care.
Read more in this series of three articles in the Summer 2007 issue of the HSC Mission Magazine:
Inside Job | Endovascular Experts | All About the Aorta

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