Local healthcare facilities are using some of the latest techniques and tools to treat patients in the realms of mental health and cardiac care.
New Depression Treatment
At University Medical Center (UMC), physicians have been using a new tool to treat depression that builds off procedures that have been performed for several hundred years.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) — colloquially known as “electroshock therapy” — use targeted stimulation via electric or magnetic pulses, to trigger a seizure in patients that can help alleviate depression. While films like “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” portray the practice as archaic, the modern implementation is not only a safe outpatient procedure under general anesthesia, but also medically sound as a means of strengthening the nerve connections that regulate one’s emotional control.
Both, however, have involved some educated guessing when determining the optimum portion of the brain to stimulate. That is, until recent years, with the creation of Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy (SAINT), a new technique that allows physicians to accurately pinpoint within a millimeter the ideal treatable location.
With SAINT, a functional MRI scan is used to map each individual’s brain before an analysis generates a precise target.
“That leads to a much more accurate placement of the coils and more effective treatment,” said Dr. Brian L. McGee, a consultation liaison psychiatrist at University Medical Center (UMC), the first medical center in Louisiana to offer SAINT.
“I tell everybody that comes for a consultation that I don’t have a cure-all,” said McGee, “But we have options, and SAINT is the most individualized option we currently have with the best data and risk profile for improvement.”
Cardiac Care Advancements
Cardiovascular health can be easily overlooked, especially for aging patients, even though venous disease is the second leading cause of sudden death worldwide.
As a leading expert in the field and the founder of the Cardiovascular Institute of South Louisiana, interventional cardiologist Dr. Craig Walker has been educating the public on the importance of regular cardiovascular care and early prevention for more than 30 years. He is a leading force in groundbreaking research and crafting techniques now used around the world.
“For me, education is really innovation because these common diseases are often hidden in plain sight,” said Walker. “New treatments can heal, for example, even a massive blood clot with very soft, very flexible devices. These developments are not for everybody, but in cases of severe pulmonary emboli, they can be lifesaving.”
The inability of blood to work its way back to the heart is the main cause of venous disease, including venous varicosities, venous ulceration, or even pulmonary emboli, which affects up to 650,000 Americans each year. While Walker’s treatments can range from a simple walking program to implanting soft, flexible stents, knowledge and advocacy are his most potent methods for keeping the blood in his patients’ veins flowing in the right direction.
At Manning Family Children’s Hospital, interventional cardiologist Dr. Ernesto Mejia is at the forefront of utilizing Realize Med, the only FDA-approved virtual reality software for medical use, as a way to not just see inside the hidden crevices of the heart, but to pre-plan procedures to save valuable treatment time for newborns as young as 3 days old.
“We can take CT scans, MRI scans and sometimes 3D echoes that are like heart ultrasounds and recreate them in a virtual space — from just one artery to the whole heart,” explained Mejia. “This allows us to look inside a 3D model using the Oculus. We can rotate, flip it around, even slice through it to see different corners of the heart to see how blood should be flowing.”
In a recent patient born with only one pumping chamber, a lifetime with only half a working heart was avoided with the help of a Realize Med virtual diagram, which offered Mejia and colleagues the chance to see inside the heart ahead of time.
Ultimately, the team was able to reconstruct the heart with two working chambers, allowing the child the chance at a more normal life. But this is just the start. Mejia believes this technology’s applications will reach far beyond pediatric care to enhance procedures for patients of all ages and maladies.
“It has been used in brain neurosurgery, orthopedics and even oncology surgery because it allows an understanding of what exists around a growing tumor or even to help decide the right prosthesis for a bone,” said Mejia. “This platform has devices built into it so I can go into my procedure planning the equipment I need and knowing what sizes I need. It really sets us up for success.”
Jeremy Marshall was born and raised in Baton Rouge before moving to New Orleans with his wife, Kristin, in 2018. Beginning his career in the Film/TV industry, Jeremy worked steadily on over a dozen projects before transitioning to Renaissance Publishing as their Sponsored Content Coordinator. You can reach him at jeremy@myneworleans.com.
