Vascular Center
Shore Health System has entered into a collaborative venture with vascular surgeon Stanley Bysshe, MD, to form the new Shore Health System Vascular Center located at The Memorial Hospital at Easton. The Center is an expansion of Shore Health System's former vascular and wound healing services. Dr. Bysshe will assume the role of medical director for the vascular center; surgeon Charles DiNapoli, MD, will remain medical director of the vascular lab.
"It's a work in progress," Dr. Bysshe says. "Our goal is to have a center that not only helps with the diagnosis of vascular disease for patients in the hospital and helps assess vascular disease for patients who come into the Wound Healing Center, but one in which we work very closely with family practitioners and offer a full range of vascular services to their patients. We also plan to bring education and screening programs to the community."
Patients are referred to the Vascular Center by their primary doctors for symptoms such as difficulty walking or non-healing wounds due to poor circulation. The non-invasive techniques offered by the Vascular Center are used to diagnose carotid artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, abdominal aortic aneurysms and other, less common ailments.
"Everything we do in the Vascular Center can be considered non-invasive," says Dr. Bysshe. "There are no needles and the risks are minimal to nonexistent. If necessary, we can transition toward more invasive techniques that require catheterization and, in some instances, balloon angioplasty, stenting and surgery. Also, there are new technologies coming onboard, such as the ability to use the CT machine to do dynamic imaging of blood vessels."
The Vascular Center represents a broad gamut of medical disciplines, from vascular technology and surgery to interventional radiology and cardiology, coming together to offer the most timely diagnosis and best treatment to patients. This multi-disciplinary approach to patient care, while being carried out informally right now, is similar to the approach that is in use at Shore Regional Cancer Center. A panel of experts meets regularly to discuss options and potential compromises related to each option from an individual patient perspective. "That is the crux of it," says Dr. Bysshe. "Diagnosing and treating vascular disease takes a team approach. Bringing all of these departments together in the hospital made the best sense."
For more information about the Shore Health System Vascular Center, call 410-822-1000, ext. 5809.
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