Mail Call - Where are all of the Noninvasive Cardiologists?

On 2/18/07, Dave wrote:

Hi Jeff:

I am a retired lSG living in Louisville, KY and never thought twice about heart problems! Had a mycardial infarction in 1974 while in the hospital at Ft Knox. Recovered well and have never taken anything other than a aspirin daily for it! I was referred to a Cardiologist by my Family Dr (Internal Medicine) "because your 76 yrs old, had a heart attack and on-set Type II diabeties"! I made the initial appointment and was scheduled for a stress test, echocardiogram and whatever the test is that takes about 30 minutes under a scanner in the morning then again right after the treadmill! Was informed I failed the stress test and apparently have blockage to the front of the heart; need to have a angioplasty and to determine if stints are appropriate or "we may have to go from there to more extensive surgury" My question of you is where did you find the info for locating a Cardiologist that tries medication first rather than doing the catherator bit! My blood pressure and cholesterol levels are good with medication and my diabeties well under control also! I noticedl you were from IN so thought maybe you knew of someone in this area that fits my need!

Dave

Hi Dave,

Nice to know a fellow E8/1SG/MSG (R) has the sense to do research and seek out second opinions. I found Dr. Wayne in a Google Search and that's also how I located his temporary replacement, Dr. Stephen DeVries. I Googled the words noninvasive and cardiologist . While there were some names that came up closer to me, oe in Indianapolis, for example, they were in a traditional group practice and I felt they were not independent enough. But the key is stay away from INTERVENTIONAL and INVASIVE Cardiologists. They are the ones that want to pierce your skin and fleece your pocketbook.

You sound like the average American who has had sn MI. It just goes to show us that not only the guy with high cholesterol has to worry, an MI can hit even those of us in great shape. I just finished reading Charles T. McGee's Heart Fraud: Uncovering the Biggest Medical Frauds in America . In this explosive book, the author validates something Dr. Wayne preached, cholesterol levels and types don't matter squat and the angiogram is a worthless test. McGee does endorse what he calls a Quantitative angiogram.

You are correct to question any cardiologist whose treatment of choice is a Coronary Artery Bypass Graft without first trying you on a regimen of medications. Doctors who don't tell what all of your treatmet alternatives are and the risks and benefits of each, aren't worth their salt and are not to be trusted. They are medical terrorists, looking to assault your body to make themselves rich. If you are able to go to an Army cardiologist or one at the VA, I am pretty sure you'd get a better opinion because you would be getting it from a physician who had no financial interest in the type of treatment you are put on.

If I hear of any doctors in Kentucky who are noninvasive cardiologists, I wikll definetely contact you and put it in my blog. Please let people know about my blog and do keep in touch.

With Warm Regards and Hope.

Jeff Brailey
9317)627-0359

We Get Questions

Question

So, what is the medication regimen prescribed for you by Dr. Wayne. Also what are the "three specific locations of blockages that are fairly rare" that may need CABG surgery? The latter was mentioned in your Blog of 6Dec2006 at 0138 hrs.


Jeff's Reply

I'm sorry I took so long to respond. I work on an oil rig in Nigeria and I don't get to check my email daily. Let me tell you about a website where a lot of questions you have may be answered. It is the late Howard Wayne's website: http://www.heartprotect.com. Dr. Wayne is no longer with us, however, his wife has kept his website up. I don't know if all of his books are available, but if they are, you can buy them through the website.

Dr. Wayne started me on three medications back in May 2004. Metapropolol, Fosinopril, and Modiuretic. He titrated my dosages until my blood pressure at rest became the lowest it could be without me having lightheadness as a side effect. That amounted to 100mg of Metapropolol twice a day, 20mg of Modiuretic in the morning and 10 mg. of Fosinopril at bedtime. It took about six weeks to accomplish this. Back then, Dr. Wayne had given me a prescription for Isosorbide but he told me to stop titrating and not use the prescription.

I went from May 2004 to November 2006 without one incident of angina. While traveling home from Nigeria just after Halloween, I had to run through Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris to make my connection. I then experienced my first angina in over two years. Since that time, I have had angina a few times a week. In January 2007, I visited a new noninvasive cardiologist I called after learning that Dr. Wayne passed away in October 2006 while vactioning in the mountains around Lake Tahoe. He would have been 83 in three weeks and lived a good and productive life.

The new physican added Isosorbide Long Acting 60mg in the morning to my regimen and gave me Nitroglycerin .04 sublingual as needed. The Isosorbide caused my blood pressure to crash too much so, I started cutting them in half and taking it with my Metepropol in the morning and at night. The angina is once again controlled.

I will see my doctor when I return from West Africa the end of February.

Regarding what types of CAD usually require surgical intervention. The main one is a significant blockage that is of the large left atrial vessel. If there is any evidence of cardiac ischemia with new onset of chest pain, and finally, any CAD that doesn't respond to medication. In other words, if the first two conditions do not exist and the doctor has not tried to treat you with medication but wants you to have a CABG, you probably want to get a second opinion.

I am not a doctor and do not pretend to be one. I would never be so bold as to tell you what to do with your health. But I do think we all should take charge of our own bodies and not let doctors with less than altruistic motives scare and coerce us into surgery we do not need.

I wish you great health and prosperity.

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I enjoy answering questions and wish we would get more. Feel free to ask anything you like. I especially enjoy sparring with interventional and invasive cardiologists. If any of you want to (and I know you are out there) spar a little bit with me, feel free. I like nothing better than to try to turn you guys and gals into proper cardiologists. So if you can defend the huge amount of CABGs performed in the USA, drop me a line.

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DID YOU KNOW?

More than 400,000 patients in the US have coronary artery bypass graft surgery each year, showing a loss of brain function in up to 70 per cent at discharge and more than one-third of patients after three months.

Coronary-bypass surgery consumes more of our medical dollar than any other treatment or procedure. Although it is performed less frequently than the most common abdominal and gynecological operations, it is the leader in terms of equipment and personnel, hospital space, and total associated revenues.

Scientific studies have shown that except in certain well-defined situations, bypass surgery does not save lives, or even prevent heart attacks.

Among patients who suffer from coronary-artery disease, those who are treated without surgery enjoy the same survival rates as those who undergo open-heart surgery.

In 1977 the Veterans Administration reported a study showing that bypass surgery caused no decrease in average annual mortality among patients with ordinary angina unless they happened to be suffering from an obstruction of the left main coronary artery, a particularly severe form of heart disease.

In 1978 researchers for the National Institutes of Health completed a similar study, randomly assigning patients with unstable angina to either surgery or nonsurgery; their findings mirrored those of the VA experiment. No difference could be determined in rates of survival between the two groups-in other words, the cases were not real emergencies, as had been assumed, and heroic surgery was not saving lives.

AMERICAN CARDIOLOGISTS HAVE KNOWN FOR OVER 30 YEARS THAT CORONARY ARTERY BYPASS GRAFTS ARE NO MORE EFFICACIOUS OR DO NOT SAVE ANY MORE LIVES THAN TREATMENT WITH MEDICATION. DO THE RESEARCH FOR YOURSELF AND SEE WHY I CALL INTERVENTIONALIST CARDIOLOGISTS WHO SCARE AND COERCE THEIR PATIENTS INTO UNNEEDED BYPASSES - MEDICAL TERRORISTS WHO SHOULD BE CHARGED WITH ASSAULT.