Tag: Northern California Wound Care Experts

ARE YOU AT RISK FOR PERIPHERAL ARTERIAL DISEASE (PAD)?

Posted on by Angelica Rodezno

WHAT IS PAD?

Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) is a common and often underdiagnosed circulatory disease where blood flow to the legs and feet is restricted by the narrowing of blood vessels due to plaque buildup.

ARE YOU AT RISK FOR PAD?

  • Smoking is the most powerful predictor of PAD: Are you a current or former smoker?
  • 1 in 10 Americans over the age of 40 have PAD
  • Do you or your loved one have diabetes?
  • Struggle with high blood pressure or cholesterol?
  • Suffer from kidney disease?
  • Risk for amputation is 10 times greater in patients with both PAD and diabetes vs PAD alone

THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT PAD CAN BE TREATED!

With an early diagnosis, you may have more treatment options and may have a better chance to reduce or eliminate your symptoms. Left untreated, however, PAD can lead to amputation and put you or your loved one’s quality of life and long-term health at serious risk.

Dr. Polly G Kokinos, a board certified Vascular and General Surgeon in Campbell, CA. is recognized as one of the regions foremost authorities in the diagnosis and treatment of PAD. With offices in both Campbell and Gilroy, CA. Dr. Kokinos has dedicated her 24 year career to serving the South County community as a Vascular Surgeon and is a pioneer in the evaluation and treatment of patients suffering from Peripheral Arterial Disease.

Unlike other Vascular Surgeons in the region who do their work at a local hospital or in shared facilities, Dr. Kokinos’ does her surgeries in a private, nationally accredited Vascular Surgery Center of Excellence. She focuses entirely on treating patients suffering from complex vascular disorders and unlike a traditional hospital she has the most advanced imaging and device technology available anywhere in the world. Most importantly, unlike a Univeristy or community hospitals, Dr. Kokinos’ patients experience the individualized care of “One Patient, One Doctor and One Nurse” rather than the cold, informal “production” environment of a typical hospital.

If you or anyone you love suffers from any of the conditions listed above, please call our office at 408-376-3626 to schedule an appointment. Most insurances are accepted and our staff typically can schedule an appointment within a few days for an initial consulation and non-invasive vascular ultrasound study. All ultrasound testing is done in our on-site Vascular Ultrasound Lab, The Institute for Vascular Testing making it significantly easier for our patients to be fully evaluated in a single visit and in a single facility.

South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute: We Offer Hope When Others Say There Is None

WOUND CARE AND HYPERBARIC OXYGEN

Posted on by Angelica Rodezno

Over the last few decades the treatment of chronic wounds (wounds that haven’t healed in 4 weeks) has become increasingly complicated and expensive. Thousands of specialized “Wound Care Centers” have cropped up across the country. The idea behind these is founded on the fact that getting these types of wounds to heal often requires physicians and nurses of different backgrounds and with special training. These centers are often made up of physicians such as podiatrists, general surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, vascular surgeons, plastic surgeons, infectious disease doctors, diabetic specialists, etc. The reason for that is that it is often the underlying medical issues such as diabetes, poor nutrition, the presence of infections, the use of drugs to treat diseases such as Lupus or Rheumatoid arthritis, that contribute to the poor healing of wounds. In addition, multiple products, surgical and nonsurgical techniques, and “advanced wound care therapies” are used when wounds just won’t heal.

Silicon Valley’s South Bay Vascular Center and Vein Institute doctors are recognized as the leading wound care doctors in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Recognized as the one of the leading wound care doctors in the country, Dr. Kokinos serves as the medical director of both the Verity/O’Connor Wound Care Center in San Jose and the St Louise Hospital Wound Care Center in Morgan Hill, CA. Dr. Kokinos brings her cutting edge expertise in wound care to patients from all over California who come for treatment at these facilities.

One of the most “hyped” of these treatments is the use of Hyperbaric Oxygen. This is 100% oxygen (normal air is about 21%) that is pressurized in a special tank and breathed by the patient over a period of about 90-120 minutes. This is done daily for thirty to forty treatments. It has been shown that this increases oxygen delivery to the tissues around the wound, and thus increases healing. Originally used to treat “the bends” after a scuba diving accident, today, most “dives” in the hyperbaric chamber are done for wound healing. Many insurers pay for this IF

  • The treatment is used to treat certain classes of wounds and
  • The wound has failed to improve after four weeks of standard therapy.

It is critically important that those two conditions are met, as hyperbaric treatment is not only quite expensive, but does have some significant side effects associated with it.

BE ADVISED: Often times wound care centers will promote this type of advanced therapy before adequately evaluating/treating the patient for the underlying factors that can contribute to non-healing. This is particularly true for vascular causes and is why before beginning any hyperbaric oxygen treatments patients must be seen and evaluated by a Vascular Surgeon. Vascular Surgeons are uniquely trained and qualified to evaluate the state of a patient’s underlying circulatory issues and patients should only agree to this kind of therapy only after speaking with their vascular surgeon.

Previously, vascular therapies often entailed long, dangerous operations to open blocked arteries. However, now, most of these treatments are minimally invasive (done through a poke in the groin or foot) and are often done in the office. Almost all patients, no matter how old nor what other medical conditions they may have, are candidates for these safe procedures.

Hyperbaric oxygen is also used for wounds in areas that have been radiated or that are the result of diabetes. Again, it is critical to optimize all other factors before progressing to “diving” or hyperbaric treatments.