A primary piece of the Hippocratic Oath physicians take upon receiving their Doctor of Medicine degree is to do no harm to our patients. More than an ancient Greek text, it is a tenet that our board-certified physicians at the Vein Institute of NJ have lived by since 1963.
We do this by making education and transparency the forefront of our treatment philosophy. Paraphrasing Sy Syms—a popular clothier from the 20th century—“an educated consumer is our best customer.” We understand that every patient has their individual needs. Our goal is to provide a customized health plan that meets those needs delivering the right care for the right reasons in the right manner!
How Can You Determine What is Right?
We appreciate and respect the trust a patient must have in their physician. You need to believe they are looking out for your best interests rather than their own personal gain. There are, unfortunately, countless stories of unnecessary and unindicated medical procedures that are performed today by less-than-ethical practitioners.
Getting a second opinion is your way to compare diagnoses and treatment options that may work best for you. There are many times patients have come to us after receiving a recommendation elsewhere only to find that we have provided a different, less-invasive course of action—quite often not even requiring surgery at all!
We commonly see patients who develop claudication—that is, pain in the legs while walking. Many physicians are eager to perform balloon angioplasty or stent placement for this condition. In point of fact, the best treatment for claudication is lifestyle modification including smoking cessation, cholesterol management, exercise and dietary changes. There is little doubt that this form of treatment produces the most long-lasting and beneficial effects—for the patient! Stent placement or balloon angioplasty of the leg arteries, while effective when needed, can often be avoided when patients are educated and committed to their own health.
Improper advice may also occur because some medical practices have not invested in the most current diagnostics. As a result, patients may be missing important information that can affect their outcomes.
We have in-house capabilities to diagnose your conditions. Our acclaimed Noninvasive Vascular Laboratory was one of the first labs to be accredited in New Jersey by the IAC accrediting body and has remained accredited for over three decades. Our physicians and technologists are some of the most respected in the country and teach many others their learned skill.
Our Noninvasive Vascular Laboratory serves to diagnose problems of the arteries and veins using completely noninvasive techniques without radiation exposure. Ultrasound is the preferred method to assess most vascular disorders. It is safe, timely, and inexpensive when compared to other types of medical imaging. There is no harmful radiation involved as the process uses soundwaves.
We are able to identify blockages in arteries of the legs, abdomen and neck thereby aiding in the diagnosis of diseases such as peripheral artery disease (PAD), carotid artery disease (stroke prevention), abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and renal artery (kidney) disease.
Additionally, we are able to identify the causes of varicose veins using ultrasound technology that affords us the ability to direct treatment appropriately and identify life-threatening conditions such as deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
Other diagnostic tools and procedures that are available to us include Angiograms, Fistulagrams, Venograms, Pulse Volume Recordings (PVR) and Ankle-Brachial Index (ABI) tests.
The Cost of Poor Medical Advice
Reducing our patients’ costs come in many forms. One is the actual monetary expenditure, but others include the cost of time and comfort. Vein Ablations are a great example where second opinions can help to reduce these costs.
Many times, we hear from patients that they were told they will need multiple laser ablation procedures. Our experience in treating hundreds of thousands of patients has not found this to be the case. While laser ablation may carry minimal risks, the use of it in situations where it is not needed is simply wrong and unacceptable!
Our physicians are trained in all manners of vascular care. We are able to manage our patients with vascular disease through the use of medications and lifestyle modification. We are adeptly skilled at the minimally-invasive techniques of balloon angioplasty and stent placement—featuring some of the technically best proceduralists in the state. We are also able to treat patients with surgical interventions when appropriate. These multiple abilities are important not so much to show that our diversity in care is evident but that we have no pre-disposing bias to one type of management over another! Whatever the best option for the patient is the one we will recommend—not the only option that is available to us!
Right Care, Right Reason, Right Manner
Choosing the right doctor to handle your vascular disease is an important decision. These days it seems everyone from podiatrists to cardiologists to radiologists are offering various treatments. As vascular doctors, we know we are the most qualified to treat the full spectrum of vein and vascular issues. It is our core focus and our specialty — we do nothing else but treat the vessels of the vascular system. And, we pride ourselves on delivering practical, honest and adept care.
While we have grown into the largest practice in the Tri-state area using the latest medical technologies, we still focus on what got us here. We keep to the utmost levels of integrity while instilling a personal, one-on-one approach to medical care. We make you part of the treatment decision process so you can be fully aware of the options available to you.
