Offering a Win-Win Solution to Patients
Dr. Michael Alan Cohn is an orthopedic hand surgeon with the Baptist Health System in south Florida. He specializes in elective surgeries from the hand to the elbow, and until last summer, he exclusively offered traditional surgical procedures for patients with carpal tunnel syndrome.
That changed after Dr. Cohn attended a Mini-Fellowship training program last year offered by Sonex Health and The Institute of Advanced Ultrasound Guided Procedures that focused on carpal tunnel release using UltraGuideCTR™ and real-time ultrasound guidance. He says that although he was aware of some surgeons performing carpal tunnel release in conjunction with real-time ultrasound (CTR-US), he was skeptical whether he’d actually use it with his patients. However, once he witnessed the many benefits this minimally invasive approach brings, he was hooked.
A True Believer
“I went to the Mini-Fellowship program to evaluate the procedure, but the education I received there left me a complete believer that this may be better for my patients,” says Dr. Cohn. He was impressed with the visualization of the interior structures of the wrist and the added confidence it gave him in terms of patient safety.
He left the Mini-Fellowship program full of excitement and determined to quickly update his practice to offer CTR-US. Since adding it, Dr. Cohn has seen his procedure volumes grow significantly, estimating that he often treats up to 20 wrists a week, with many patients seeking him out through word of mouth.
Now, He’s a COE Physician
Dr. Cohn’s dedication to safety and providing the best outcomes for his patients recently led Sonex Health and The Institute of Advanced Ultrasound Guided Procedures to designate him a Center of Excellence (COE) physician — an honor he’s proud to have achieved.
In addition to safety, he cites a wide variety of other advantages CTR-US offers when compared to traditional approaches. These include a smaller incision, which typically doesn’t require sutures that have to be removed later. It also does away with the need for anesthesia, pre-operative testing and clearance, and an in-person post-procedure visit.
He says CTR-US not only saves his patients time and money for all of the reasons he mentioned but it also offers a quick recovery. “I have patients returning to work within a day or two and back to exercising and activities like golfing within a week to 10 days. This is a great improvement over other methods.
My ability to offer CTR-US to patients has become my favorite aspect of my practice, as it has positively impacted their care experience and has eased their recovery process.”
Learn more about The Institute of Advanced Ultrasound Guided Procedures and our training programs to begin your MSK ultrasound training today.