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He says robotic tools have revolutionized the way surgeries are performed, not just for the surgeon but also for the patient.
Robotic-assisted surgery, like one performed with the da Vinci® Surgical System, is minimally-invasive.
Typically, robotic surgery causes less bleeding and less tissue trauma, which means a shorter hospital stay, less pain and faster recovery for patients.
Dr. Francis Buzad explains how the robotic arms work.
In this video, Dr. Buzad takes you on a tour of the robotic surgery suite to talk about two of the main pieces of equipment — the robotic arms, which hold the surgical instruments and the master control, where the surgeon controls the arms.
You will learn:
How robotic surgery can benefit patients
Components of the system
How the robotic arms work
How a surgeon can control the arms and some of the system’s features
If you’re thinking about getting pregnant, you may want to check in with your OB/GYN.
Talking with your doctor about your plans to get pregnant – a preconception counseling visit – can help you decide when to conceive your baby as well as make sure you have a healthy pregnancy right from the start.
Your OB/GYN will sit down with you and your partner to talk about just about anything that could affect your pregnancy.
He or she will want to understand your medical history, your lifestyle, diet, medications and genetic conditions. Then they can advise you on what you can do to increase your chances of conceiving and how to take care of yourself and your baby through delivery.
When to schedule a preconception appointment
The best time to see your OB/GYN is three to six months before conception, according to Dr. Allison Devine, ADC OB/GYN.
“I recommend this for all of my patients who are either actively trying to conceive or even considering pregnancy in the near future,” Dr. Devine said.
Why?
Before you become pregnant is the time to address medical conditions that could affect your baby. You also want to become as healthy as you can before conceiving, so your body can make itself ready for such a huge physical and emotional change.
“This can be especially important if patients have already identified a potential barrier to their fertility or if they have any medical conditions that could potentially put them in a higher risk category with pregnancy,” Dr. Devine said.
What to talk about during a preconception appointment
Your OB/GYN will need to know as much about you and your partner as possible. It’s also a great opportunity to ask your doctor any questions you have about pregnancy.
Here are some of the topics you will talk about:
Medical history
This includes your reproductive history, surgeries, hospitalizations, and any health conditions you have had.
Family health history
Do any health conditions run in your family? Do twins tend to run in your family?
Current medications
Your doctor will want to know what medications. Some may be risky to your baby, and you may need to avoid them or make substitutions.
“A lot of times we either just need to adjust the dose or potentially substitute another medication that may be safer for pregnancy,” Dr. Devine said. “It’s really important that patients don’t just abruptly stop taking medications that they may be taking – that they contact their physician so we can go over the most appropriate way to do that.”
Any supplements?
Don’t forget to tell you doctor about supplements or herbal remedies you are taking.
ADC OB/GYN Dr. Angela Meyer says that even includes facial and body creams. Some ingredients in lotions, such as Retin-A, are contraindicated in pregnancy, so it’s important to let your OB/GYN know if you are taking them.
Your lifestyle
Do you exercise? What are you eating and drinking? Are you overweight? Do you smoke?
Your doctor may advise you to make lifestyle changes in order to get your body in tip-top shape for pregnancy.
Next steps
The pre-conception appointment focuses on learning as much about you as possible, but counseling you is just part of the process.
After talking with you, your OB/GYN may also do a physical exam, chart your menstrual cycle, check your vaccinations, and discuss genetic counseling.
What do you do if you come down with the flu virus?
It’s not too late to visit your doctor for a vaccination to prevent catching influenza. But if you already have the virus, here’s what you need to know.
ADC doctors are seeing about 70 percent more cases of flu in the clinic than they did last year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report flu cases in Texas are decreasing, but the season can last as long as May.
Do you have the flu?
Colds and flu are often confused, but they are different. Flu comes on suddenly. It can lead to complications such as pneumonia, bronchitis, and ear infections. It can make chronic health problems worse, like asthma and congestive heart disease. It can even lead to death.
If you have some of all of the following symptoms, you may have the flu.
Fever
Cough
Sore throat
Runny or stuffy nose
Muscle or body aches
Headache
Fatigue
Vomiting and diarrhea (More common in children)
If you are sick
Doctors say you should stay home and avoid contact with other people if you have flu symptoms. That way you can help prevent spreading the illness. The only exception is to seek medical care.
Most people with mild illness don’t need to visit a doctor, but you should call your provider if you are at high risk for flu-related complications or are worried about your symptoms.
Your doctor may decide to prescribe an anti-viral medication. These medications can make the illness milder or reduce the amount of time you are sick. Studies have shown they work best if taken within two days of getting sick.
It is important to pay attention to your symptoms. If they worsen, you should call your health care provider.
Warning signs for flu symptoms
Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
Chest pain
Sudden dizziness
Confusion
Severe or persistent vomiting
Flu-like symptoms that improve but then return with fever and worse cough
How long does it last?
Some people need two weeks to recover from flu. But some people recover in just a few days. It depends on how severe your illness is.
You should stay home and avoid being around other people until your fever has been gone at least 24 hours without using fever-reducing medicines (Ibuprofen, acetaminophen, etc.).
Prevention is key
Although flu season may have already peaked, doctors say it could stretch into May. It’s still important to take steps to prevent the disease.
Hummus, a healthy dip made from chickpeas, is a nutrition powerhouse. It is packed full of protein, fiber and antioxidants.
But don’t overlook it even if you are trying to cut calories from your diet.
Kimberly Smith, a health educator with ADC’s Weight Loss and Health Risk Management Program, shared her recipe for a lower-calorie version of this popular spread.
Hummus is made from mashed chickpeas. It originated in the Middle East, but its popularity spans the globe. In fact, hummus is so popular in the United States that Americans bought $300 million worth of the dip in 2010.
Traditional hummus is chickpeas combined with sesame (tahini), lemon and garlic.
Many hummus recipes call for ¼ cup of olive oil, which adds 480 calories to the recipe. In this hummus recipe, Smith used vegetable broth instead of the olive oil to save calories.
The substitution changes the texture a little, but it’s still very flavorful.
You can also add other flavors depending on your personal taste. Smith recommends trying peppers, basil or other herbs. Experiment and add ingredients a little at a time to find the right combination.
Watch Smith make her low-calorie hummus in the video above.
Here is the recipe:
This hummus recipe substitutes vegetable broth for oil to save calories.
Kimberly’s Low-Calorie Hummus
Serves: Many
Ingredients
1 can of chick peas, rinsed and drained
¼ cup of vegetable broth
1 lemon
1 clove of garlic
¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Juice one lemon.
Add all other ingredients to food processor along with the lemon juice. Blend for about three minutes or until smooth and creamy.
Chill in the refrigerator and serve with your favorite veggies.
Optional: Add 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil and fold in hummus after preparation for added flavor. This will only add 60 calories for the entire recipe.
It’s not a good idea to scrap your New Year’s weight loss resolutions.
Recent findings found a lower mortality risk for overweight people. But ADC doctors say the study is not specific enough to say you should be overweight.
About the study
The study’s findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Researchers wanted to see how weight affected mortality. So they analyzed almost 100 articles, which included nearly 3 million people worldwide.
The study found that people who were obese overall had a greater risk of death. But the study also found that people at the lowest obesity level – those with a BMI of 30 to 34.9 – did not have a greater mortality risk than people at normal weight.
And people who were categorized as overweight – BMI of 25 to 30 – actually had a lower mortality risk than normal weight people.
Putting it in perspective
Dr. Hien Tran, ADC endocrinologist, says the findings are interesting and raise questions about the link between weight and longevity. But she says many more studies need to be done to draw definitive conclusions.
“I don’t think the study was a great study. Having said that, it does bring up an interesting observation about weight and mortality,” she said.
“There’s so much variation (among the study references) regarding demographics, countries studied – we don’t know if all the people included had access to good or even adequate health care ,” Dr. Tran said. “[The study authors] don’t tell you what the studies they used in their analysis were really studying. It’s too generalized for us to make any conclusions.”
What you should do
Stay active as part of a health lifestyle.
Dr. Tran says it’s important to maintain a healthy lifestyle to maintain and lower your weight. She says it starts with a balanced diet — low in saturated fat and high in vegetables and fruit.
You should also move around – a lot. Exercising three to four times a week is recommended, but Tran says if you can’t exercise, do something physical. Walking, doing housework, and gardening are all good activities to keep you moving around.
“If you’re a little overweight and running a 5K, that’s better than not being active and being a healthy weight,” she said.
There are medications and weight loss surgery, but they should only be considered as a last option.
“For most people who are not morbidly obese, diet and exercise is still the best thing,” she said.
If you have any questions about your health and weight, Dr. Tran says to make sure you go to trusted sources. Don’t just do a Google search. Go to the Mayo Clinic, universities or medical centers for online medical information.
And certainly, you can also talk to your doctor who can give you individual advice about your health.
Sometimes inclement weather, such as snow, ice, tornadoes, floods or other events, may cause The Austin Diagnostic Clinic to close. If that happens, ADC has a system in place to alert patients.
We will announce any closings or delays on the home page of our website, social media channels, TV and radio. Follow @ADCHealth on Twitter for real-time updates or “like” our Facebook page.
Patients can also call our inclement weather hotline for updates: 512-901-4997.
If the clinic closes and you had an appointment scheduled on that day, a staff member will call you to reschedule your appointment.
Preparing a healthy appetizer is a great strategy for avoiding unhealthy foods during holiday parties and other festive occasions.
A vegetable platter paired with a low-fat dip can help you fill up on nutritionally dense foods instead of typical appetizers that may be packed with sugar and/or fat.
Kim Fry, a health educator for ADC’s Weight Loss and Health Risk Management program, recently demonstrated how to turn plain Greek yogurt into a dip bursting with flavor. It also has fewer calories and grams of fat than many popular dips.
The amounts of the ingredients in this recipe depends on your personal taste. You can add as much or as little herbs and vegetables as you want.
You can also change up the flavors. What about red pepper instead of cucumber? Or curry powder instead of the herbs? Build upon the yogurt and create a dip to suite your taste.
Recipe: Herb Yogurt Dip
Herb yogurt dip with basil chiffonade
Ingredients
1 cup fat free plain Greek yogurt
Fresh basil or thyme, minced
Fresh shallot, minced
Garlic, minced
Cucumber, chopped
Various herbs and spices
Instructions
Combine the yogurt with the herbs, vegetables and spices to taste.
Images from 6 of ADC’s most popular videos of 2012.
This has been an exciting year for The Austin Diagnostic Clinic.
Among our most exciting events, we celebrated the clinic’s 60th anniversary, settled into two new clinic locations (ADC Westlake and ADC Circle C), and launched a brand new website design.
We also spent a full year creating and building up a library of videos for our patients, staff and visitors to explore. Our YouTube channel has been an exciting place to share information to help you learn about our doctors, the procedures we offer, and other health and wellness topics.
We definitely have some favorite videos, but so do you, and we thought it would be interesting to show you which videos have been the most popular.
Right after making this video, our diabetes educators carried this quinoa dish to their office in the Main Clinic, and just about everyone in the elevator commented how delicious it smelled.
This quinoa stuffing was easy to make and it’s great for people living with diabetes or those who eat a gluten-free diet. And it’s not just for Thanksgiving – it’s delicious any time of year.
Our doctors do great work every day, and one of Dr. Francis Buzad’s patients shared her story of how he guided her through major surgery and helped make her recovery much faster and less painful.
This video is one of several educational videos from ADC cardiology to help give patients information about common procedures their cardiologist may recommend.
The video shows how an electrocardiogram is done in-office as a first step toward diagnosing heart conditions.
In the spring, Dr. Joseph Imsais presented a talk on peripheral artery disease, which can be a silent health threat. The signs of PAD are often overlooked, and Dr. Imsais walks us through the symptoms and treatments for PAD in this video of highlights from his talk.
Our Circle C clinic opened just over a year ago, and in January, we took patients on a walking video tour of the facility, which is located in a new development off Slaughter Lane near the Alamo Drafthouse.
This video gives patients a glimpse of what the inside of the clinic looks like.
This video was actually one of our first recipe videos with ADC Health Educator Kim Fry. Kids are often hungry right after school, but fast snacks don’t have to be unhealthy.
Kim shows us just how many snack options are available with just a little yogurt and fruit.
This video was created from a 2011 Health Matters seminar with Dr. Mary Gasal, but it remains a popular and great source of information about menopause and what to expect.
Just about every time we interview one of doctors, we ask them about what inspired him or her to be a doctor and what they want patients to know about them.
Dr. Patience Reading was one of the first to tell us about her inspiration – a chance walk past a building on 45th Street in North Austin. You’ll have to watch to learn more!
An ankle-brachial test is just one way cardiologists can diagnose peripheral artery disease. It’s an in-office procedure that’s quick and painless, and this video shows exactly how it’s done. Dr. Imsais walks us through the steps so patients know what to expect.
Our Westlake clinic opened just over a year ago and we wanted to make sure patients know how to get there. We set our trusty video camera to record our drive to the clinic, including the U-turn if you approach on Loop 360 from the south.
We’re thrilled that so many people have been helped from this and all of our videos. We’ll have more for 2013!
Have a craving for something sweet but trying to to lose weight? This recipe for brownies not only cuts the calories and fat, but it’s also gluten-free.
Kimberly Smith, health educator for ADC’s Weight Loss and Health Risk Management program, shared this recipe for brownies that uses black beans and applesauce instead of flour and oil. It cuts the calories and fat without losing flavor.
Recipe: Flourless Black Bean Brownies
Serves 12
60 calories per serving
This brownie recipe is flourless and lower in fat and calories.
Ingredients
1 (15.5oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
4 eggs
2 tbsp applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup Splenda® for baking
4 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly coat a 8″x 8″ baking dish with cooking spray.
In a food processor, combine the black beans, eggs, applesauce, vanilla extract, Splenda®, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Process until smooth. The mixture should look shiny.
Scrape batter evenly into the baking dish.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Toys are usually at the top of lists for Santa, but ADC pediatricians often advise parents to stop and do some checking before they buy toys for children.
Not all toys are safe for kids of all ages, and it’s important to make sure toys meet certain safety standards before they show up under the tree.
Here are 5 things to look for when you head out to the stores this holiday.
Children younger than 4 are at the greatest risk. Hazards are usually small and round or cylindrical and can easily obstruct the airway.
What to look for:
You want to think BIG. Make sure a child cannot fit the toy in their mouth. A good way to check is by check the toy with an empty toilet paper tube. If it can fall through the tube, it’s likely a child can swallow it.
Also, avoid balloons. Balloons and pieces of broken balloons are very dangerous because they can completely block a child’s airway.
2) How loud is it?
How loud is the toy you want to buy? Children have sensitive ears, and loud toys could damage their hearing. If it’s too loud for you, it’s probably too loud for a child.
What you can do:
If you really want to give the toy, remove the batteries or cover the speakers with duct tape.
3) Does it shoot objects in the air?
Toys than can send projectiles into the air could cause eye injuries or be choked on.
What you can do:
Read the label and make sure it’s appropriate for the child you intend to give it to.
4) Is it well made?
Make sure you buy toys than won’t break or tear apart easily. Broken pieces or small objects inside toys can be a choking or strangulation hazard.
What to look for:
Check stuffed toys to make sure pieces, like ribbons or eyes, are attached tightly and seams are secure. Look for sturdy plastic that won’t break apart easily.
5) Does it have small metal pieces?
Avoid toys with powerful magnets or watch batteries. Some magnetic toys have been recalled because they can cause internal damage if swallowed. The acid inside small batteries can also be fatal if swallowed.
What you can do:
Check the CPSC’s website for recall information, and keep small batteries away from children.
Bonus
6) Does the child have younger siblings?
What you can do
If you’re buying a toy for a child with younger brothers or sisters, make sure the item is safe for those kids as well. It’s very common for siblings to share toys in a household, and toys appropriate for an older child often have small parts or pieces that could be hazardous for younger kids.
Look for toys that are appropriate for all ages. Books are a great option!
Doing your homework will go a long way toward making sure the toys you give are safe for all kids.
What else do you look for in a safe toy? Share your tips in the comments section below.
