Tag: USA

Introducing A New Innovative, Incision-Free Treatment from Gynesonics.

MedStar Health is the first health system to provide Sonata, an incision-free, uterus-preserving, outpatient treatment option for women  with symptomatic Uterine Fibroids

Gynesonics®, a women’s healthcare company focused on the development of minimally invasive solutions for symptomatic uterine fibroids, announced today that MedStar Health, a not-for-profit health system of 4,300 affiliated physicians and 10 hospitals, ambulatory care and urgent care centers, has introduced the Sonata® Procedure in the Maryland and Washington, D.C. area. The first case at MedStar Health was performed by Vadim Morozov, M.D., the Director of the American Academy of Gynecologic Laparoscopists (AAGL) Fellowship in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery at MedStar Washington Hospital Center.

Fibroids are benign growths in or around the uterus, with about 70 percent of white women and more than 80 percent of black women having uterine fibroids before the age of 50. Uterine fibroids may cause significant and debilitating symptoms, including heavy menstrual bleeding. Symptoms may worsen over time if fibroids are left untreated, which leads to more than two million women in the U.S. undergoing treatment for uterine fibroids each year.

“Invasive surgery can be a major deterrent to women who would otherwise seek treatment,” said Chris Owens, President and CEO of Gynesonics. “We are committed to making Sonata available to all women who suffer from symptomatic uterine fibroids. This acknowledgment of the clinical importance of Sonata by Dr. Morozov and MedStar Health is important for patients in the Washington D.C./Maryland area. We are excited to be accelerating our commercial efforts and launch of the Sonata System across the United States and globally.”

The Sonata procedure offers women with symptomatic uterine fibroids an option that is incision-free, has a quick recovery with excellent reduction in heavy menstrual bleeding symptoms, and provides an option to avoid invasive surgery. Sonata uses a unique intrauterine ultrasound handpiece to locate and target the individual fibroids. Radiofrequency energy is delivered to shrink the fibroid and reduce symptoms. The Sonata Treatment is a breakthrough alternative to hysterectomy and myomectomy, and can treat a wide range of fibroid types, sizes, and locations. The fibroids are treated from inside the uterus, so the Sonata Treatment requires no incisions, no tissue is surgically removed, and the uterus is preserved. Clinical studies demonstrate that nearly 90 percent of women showed a reduction in menstrual bleeding at three months and 95 percent had a reduction in bleeding at 12 months. Additionally, 50 percent of women returned to normal activities the next day.

The Sonata System uses radiofrequency energy to ablate fibroids under real time sonography guidance from within the uterine cavity, utilizing the first and only intrauterine ultrasound transducer. The System includes a proprietary graphical user interface (SMART Guide), enabling the operator to target fibroids and optimize treatment. The Sonata system provides incision-free transcervical access for a uterus-preserving fibroid treatment. This intrauterine approach is designed to avoid the peritoneal cavity. The Sonata System is CE marked and is approved for sale in the European Union and the United States.

For more information on the Sonata Treatment and to watch patient testimonials, please visit http://www.sonatatreatment.com.

Is AHIMA the new force in US Health Data Management?

It’s not like AHIMA (ahima.org) is a new kid on the block – their Association has been around for some time. It’s just that the recent spate of emails to us about their SmartBrief facility, and the depth of the info it conveys, make us wonder why we have not recognised its presence before.

In fact we did – it’s just that AHIMA itself has started to widen its reach, and is giving its bigger brother so to say, HIMSS – a clear run for its money.

At a time when HIMSS changes in key personnel over the past twelve months, has given it a more authoritarian look and feel and dare I say, less welcoming.

So here we are… AHIMA focusses on the technical stuff, coding, courses, helping to you to understand better your patient data. And they have their annual events too, and their frequent Seminars.

Sure, HIMSS has its global footprint – and we will be at HIMSS Helsinki in just a few months – but watch out for the increasing News briefs from AHIMA and go subscribe to their service.

American View of the World

We look at the misunderstanding of Western Media towards the Trump Presidency.

I am having breakfast in an airport hotel just outside Hartfield Atlanta airport, and the middle aged man a few seats away, leans over and offers his hand.

“Hi, I’m Dave”. He says; he is one of the many Delta pilots who regularly stay at this hotel – their Training Centre is just a few blocks away. And we start talking. The man is clearly educated, middle class, and well travelled. And then he says something strategic; “it is not what Trump is doing, that is bad – it is his delivery”.

And we open along discussion that goes way beyond the waffles and bacon and eggs. We explore every avenue of American life, and how our civilised media, whilst routinely criticising Trump, is missing the essential point that, Trump America is not divided into blue collar rose coloured spectacled workers who long for the good old days, – and the liberal educated white collared Managers on the other. Trump America has its fare share of ordinary people who are looking at what Trump is doing for Americans if not America.

I am sitting on my premium seat from JFK back to London and next to me, my middle aged American offers his hand. He is a financial adviser for a large Bank. And he says; “you know, our medical situation with Obamacare, is so messed up”. Taking each issue in turn – we have six hours to spend – what he says is an enlightenment:

North Korea – America has for twenty years been trying to be the “nice guy”; and it has been misread as a sign of weakness. Trump is the first President to get bombastic and actually do something about it, or give that impression. His speech to the UN was “the best this man has heard”.
Nato Support; – Trump was right to ask Europeans to pay their fair contribution. And my colleague has a point – many European States have grown used to the idea that the rich nations of the world owe them a living.

Immigration – why can’t we have immigrants who apply to settle, in the normal way? My colleague recounts the story of his father in law, who himself fled from Cuba, and waited in line etc, to go through the proper channels. And on we go…

There are various counter arguments to all of this, of course, but the single biggest issue that will conceivably bring down the Trump presidency, is completely missing from my colleague’s philosophy. The Russian connection and Trump does not have any real significance in either of my new friends’ way of seeing things, and the threat to the US democracy and freedom of values and truth, does not figure for them.

How so?

Because Russia is not on their doorstep, and because the USA essentially is a nationalistic mentality, that looks after the rest of us because it sort of has a moral responsibility rather than any absolute obligation. The conspiracy theories that we are well aware of, and believe are true, in our European society, and that US Media bang on about – are simply not getting through to the average and even many levels of the general middle classes of the USA.

So, what to do?

The answer is to keep on portraying the balanced view that we have become used to in Europe, and to include the USA in discussions. We on this side of the Atlantic are far more European than American, but their friendship and levels of reaching out, are the best in the world. As my colleague in Atlanta says; “Welcome to good ol’. Southern Hospitality!”