Dr. Volker focuses on early breast cancer detection, minimally invasive hysterectomies, and a host of clinical and research studies, and is one of a few board-certified obstetrician/
A Pap Test for the Breast - visit http://www.womensspecialtycare.com/
One of the advanced technologies that Dr. Volker’s practice has introduced to its patients and the Las Vegas Valley is a breast cancer early detection screening device called the HALO Breast Pap Test. HALO is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for collection of nipple aspirate fluid (NAF) for cytological evaluation. According to Dr. Volker, the HALO has been tested on more than 1,000 women in rigorous clinical trials.
“We were one of the first practices in the country to introduce the HALO,” says Dr. Volker. Women’s Specialty Care began offering patients HALO last summer, soon after the device became clinically available. “We are one of about nine sites in the country that currently use it.”
The HALO uses a vacuum to collect NAF for analysis. Approximately 50% of women produce fluid for testing. Not producing fluid with the HALO test is considered a normal result. The manufacturer, NeoMatrix, asserts that “a woman with atypia (abnormal cytology) in NAF has a four-to-five times greater risk of developing breast cancer than women who do not produce fluid.” The HALO is intended for annual use. The test can distinguish among normal, pre-malignant, and malignant cells.
“Mammography, which has been the gold standard for early detection of breast cancer, is a screening tool not a diagnostic tool,” says Dr. Volker. “When you use it, you’re basically looking back in time, finding something that’s already been there. With the HALO, we can pick up precancer, or abnormal cells, before they become cancer. So it’s even earlier detection than mammography, as much as seven years earlier.”
Advancing Minimally Invasive Gynecology
(visit http://www.volkerhealthcare.com/
Technology has improved many surgical procedures that once made recovery both long and painful. Minimally invasive surgery is changing the way many patients receive care today.
“Laparoscopic surgery has been around for a long time,” says Dr. Volker. “We’ve been using laparoscopy for appendectomies, for taking out gall bladders, and for removing cysts on the ovaries,” he explains. “But it’s been in very limited use for hysterectomies.”
Performing a complete hysterectomy laparoscopically, offers challenges in terms of both technology and the numbers of surgeons skilled in the area, Dr. Volker explains, an observation likewise asserted by the AAGL. Most ob/gyns, Dr. Volker says, perform no more than 3-4 hysterectomies a month; their practices consist primarily of conducting annual examinations, treating infections, and delivering babies.
Likewise, the instrumentation for laparoscopic hysterectomy is complex. “We do everything in high definition using drop-down monitors,” says Dr. Volker. “Our scalpel is a Harmonic scalpel, which uses sound waves to cut tissue.” This new device is highly effective. “It is an eloquent instrument to do the work that we do,” says Dr. Volker.
Hysterectomy is the second most frequently performed major surgical procedure among reproductive-
“If you look at the national data,” says Dr. Volker, “fewer than 10% of hysterectomies are done laparoscopically. We do a little better here in Southern Nevada, about 15%.” In fact, Women’s Specialty Care performs more than 90% of its hysterectomies using minimally invasive techniques,”
Dr. Volker has advanced his surgical program to the point that approximately 90% of his major surgical procedures are performed laparoscopically. This is far greater than the norm, of approximately 25% of major gynecological surgery performed minimally invasively.
“Minimally invasive surgery is shown to have fewer complications than traditional hysterectomies when performed by properly trained and skilled surgeons,” explains Dr. Volker. “But that means surgeons who perform these minimally invasive surgeries on a routine basis, typically on a weekly basis, based on data published by The Cleveland Clinic in 2007.”
In addition, the pain is far less with minimally invasive surgery – and the recuperation time is much quicker. “Traditionally, hysterectomy patients are in the hospital for three or four days after the surgery and it takes eight weeks to recuperate,”
“There are some contraindications to minimally invasive,” explains Dr. Volker. “Number one is some types of advanced cancer. You don’t do this surgery if the patient has advanced cancer because you do need to open the patient to do extensive parts of the surgery.” While advanced cancer is the major contraindication, there are others. “If there are lots of adhesions, bowel adhesions, it would be preferable to do a traditional hysterectomy. We can take down scar tissue with laparoscopy, but if it is extensive, we tend to run into problems.”
In addition to hysterectomies, Dr. Volker performs other minimally invasive surgeries: supra-cervical hysterectomy (LSH); oophorectomy/
Minimally Invasive Endometriosis treatment: http://www.volkerhealthcare.com/
Minimally Invasive Pelvic Support/Reconstruction Surgery: http://www.volkerhealthcare.com/
Minimally Invasive Incontinence Treatment: http://www.volkerhealthcare.com/
Cosmetic Labial and Pelvic Reconstruction:
