By Charmaine Emelife, MD
Hypertensive kidney disease (HKD) is believed to be a cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in a significant number of patients living in America. Hypertensive nephrosclerosis or HKD is a vague diagnosis used especially when a patient does not have diabetes, is non-nephrotic, has no renal biopsy and is noted to have irreversible advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) ... Continue Reading
By Stephanie Keller, MD; Angela Wittenauer, MSN, FNPC, RN; and Rachel Logan MMSc, CGC
How do you connect a dried blood spot from the heel of a newborn to a life-changing treatment in under a month? The answer to this question is collaboration and expertise. The Georgia Department of Public Health tests every baby in the state for 35 conditions that if treated in the first year of life greatly improves their quality of life and health. Recent additions to the ... Continue Reading
By Marissa Shams, MD, and Dawn Laney, MS, CGC
Repeated episodes of excruciating abdominal pain and swelling that occurs suddenly without warning and results in a disfiguring swelling of the face, lips and tongue that persists for several days. Life-threatening laryngeal edema often requiring repeated intubation given the concern for asphyxiation that is unresponsive to allergy medications including anti-histamines, ... Continue Reading
By Pavan K. Ananth, M.D., MPH, and Ceana H. Nezhat, M.D.
Endometriosis affects one in eight women and can have devastating effects. It impacts all age groups with varying consequences and is not restricted to the reproductive tract. Severe endometriosis can cause bowel obstruction or perforation, ureteral stricture, renal failure and hemothorax, not to mention debilitating pain. Despite these serious, and sometimes ... Continue Reading
By Helen K. Kelley
Atlanta-area physicians are at the forefront of groundbreaking cancer treatments that draw patients from all over the country. Cutting-edge Therapies for Brain Tumors in Children When Dr. Tobey MacDonald was recruited by Dr. Bill Woods to join the Pediatric Brain Cancer Program at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta in 2009, he was astounded by the fact that no such program ... Continue Reading
By Rutledge Forney, M.D.
Helping children with facial port wine stains was the first cosmetic usage of laser energy. Since then, our understanding of energy in the skin has grown exponentially. Today, lasers and other light/energy-based devices have dozens of cosmetic applications. From hair to brown spots to wrinkles and much more, demand for non-invasive (non-surgical) procedures has exploded as ... Continue Reading
By Elizabeth Morgan, MD PhD FACS “Can it be done in the office?†and “Do I need a face lift?†are two common questions that cosmetic surgery patients ask us. Today, short-acting general anesthetics and advanced monitoring make general anesthesia very safe, safer than intravenous sedation — one reason that anesthesiologists prefer this approach. Indeed the ... Continue Reading
By Helen Kelley
An interview with Drs. Drew Freilich, Mehrdad Alemozaffar, and John G. Pattaras Advancing technologies and noninvasive treatments, along with more open communication between physicians and patients, are improving the lives of people with urological conditions and diseases, from incontinence to cancer. Atlanta Medicine recently spoke with specialists who are excited to share ... Continue Reading
By Paul Walia, M.D. of Georgia Retina Diabetic retinopathy affects nearly one-third of all patients with diabetes and is the leading cause of visual impairment and blindness in working-aged adults. The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) estimates that currently the healthcare costs associated with the treatment for diabetic retinopathy is around $500 million ... Continue Reading
By Michael Jacobson, M.D. In this edition, we will explore and provide you insight into a wide range of ophthalmology topics. We will start at the front of the eye, the cornea, then delve deeper to discuss the lens and ciliary body. Lastly we’ll finish our eye edition focused on the back of the eye, the retina. Hold tight onto this issue, as we will give you a ... Continue Reading
By Carla Roberts, M.D., Ph.D. Hysteroscopy is the inspection of the uterine cavity by endoscopy with access through the cervix. It allows for the diagnosis of intrauterine pathology and serves as a method for surgical intervention, also called operative hysteroscopy. Although the first reported uterine endoscopy was in 1869, the modern-day hysteroscopy did not become ... Continue Reading
By Rossana Sánchez, M.D. Medical Genetics is a vast and rapidly advancing field. With an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 genes in the human genome, mutations in these genes give rise to many disorders. The scope of practice of a geneticist is necessarily broad, encompassing inpatient and outpatient consultations for inherited conditions and congenital malformations, for genetic ... Continue Reading
NOTES FROM AN INSIDER By Benedict B. Benigno, M.D. Ovarian cancer is an avaricious tumor, and its domain is nothing less than the entire abdominal cavity. It can extend from the deepest part of the pelvis up to the diaphragm and to the right and left of the colon and everything in between. It can appear after a few weeks of the mildest symptoms, and by then it has already ... Continue Reading
By Ryan Chen, M.D. From ATLANTA Medicine, Vol. 86, No. 1 “A-C-Lâ€is the three-letter word that no athlete wants to hear. The anterior cruciate ligament is critical to stability of the knee and is the primary restraint to anterior tibial translation. Every year, professional athletes such as Tiger Woods, Tom Brady and Lindsey Vonn sustain season-ending ACL ruptures. ... Continue Reading
By Douglas W. Lundy, M.D., MBA, FACS From ATLANTA Medicine, Vol. 86, No. 1 Orthopaedic surgery is a diverse specialty comprised of multiple subspecialties focused on anatomic areas or pathologic processes (degenerative disease, developmental or trauma). Although the origins of orthopaedic surgery stem from treatment of children affected by polio, a tremendous portion of ... Continue Reading
