Letters…we get letters.
Last month Dr. Oz did a segment on transradial angioplasty and featured Dr. Jennifer Tremmel who is not only the Clinical Director of Women’s Heart Health at Stanford Clinic, but also the Director of Transradial Interventions at Stanford Medical Center. I reported on that show here.
There was much buzz generated in the cardiology community; after all, it’s not every day that many millions of viewers hear about an interventional cardiology procedure that’s practiced in less than 10% of cases.
But while what Dr. Tremmel discussed was certainly of interest to Dr. Oz’s lay audience, the story of how she came to practice the transradial approach is most instructive for those interventional cardiologists who are thinking about learning the radial technique. Briefly, she went to a course (with Dr. John Coppola in New York), came back to Stanford, and started doing radials right away. Within six months, her practice was 100% radial. You can read how this all came about in-depth in my 2009 interview with Dr. Tremmel.
Dr. Tremmel now speaks to physicians around the country about the radial approach to catheterization and PCI, but the group affected most directly by this technique is, of course, the patient population. We at Angioplasty.Org know that this procedure reduces complications and increases comfort for the patient, which is why we have been championing the transradial approach for years now in our Transradial Center.
So it was gratifying to get this recent comment to our Dr. Oz story from patient Jim S which I share with you:
“I have had transradial entry angiograms twice, performed by Dr. Tremmel at Stanford Medical Center, with complete success. No complications. It was fast and the recovery time was far less and less complicated than the femoral entry. Maybe I’m an exception, but thought you would like this input.”
Yes. We like your input and no Jim, you are not an exception.
By the way, for those who missed it, you can watch the Dr. Oz segment on his web site.
An independent, apolitical, non-corporate presentation of a medical procedure in the interest of competent, effective and ethical patient care — thank you.