Aussie Members - Seeking Surgeon in Australia

[carolyncox]

Hi there,

I hope all you Aussie members are able to help me, I thought it was a good idea to post my question to help assist my investigation.

We are keen to see if we can find a cardiac thoracic surgeon in Australia, who has done successful replacement of the ascending aorta and arch with a graft.

I have been advised by one member of their surgeon who is in Perth - Dr David Andrews however we are interested to hear of any other recommendations. We are particularly keen on Melbourne, but would definately look at other cities.

Thanks so much for your help, I look forward to your replies.

Carolyn

 

[surfsparky]

Melbourne Surgeon

Melbourne Surgeon

Hi Carolyn,

Sorry to hear about your health issues...but good on you for being proactive and researching the best surgeon for your needs.

We're from Melbourne and Chris' surgeon is Mr.Peter Skillington at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He is a cardiac thoracic surgeon and one of the best (if not the best!) in Australia. He's also a lovely man with great interpersonal skills. For us, we wanted the surgeon with the most experience...one that was also an expert in his field and he was THE man! Chris had his surgery at the Epworth in Melbourne as we have private health insurance. The staff were fantastic.

You can either look up the Royal Melbourne Hospital website for Peter Skillington's details (phone number etc) or I actually have his email address if you would like to email his personally.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask or send me a private message. Happy to swap email addresses too.

Take care and all the best in your search,

Yolanda

 

[aussigal]

If you are travelling over from NZ I suggest you try RPH in Sydney DR/MR Nick Hendl is a champion and last time I checked he was head of Cardio /Thorasic and your problem is his specialty. I emailed him with questions early on in my journey and he graciously offered to look at my scans and give me his opinion and then also operate if I chose to travel to Sydney or alternately offer assistance in chosing a Perth surgeon...I ended up going with a local surgeon who is now my hero .

I add the following as something to consider....just in-case....
I am actually very glad I chose to stay in Perth and have surgery. I ended up having very very serious unexpected complications and it would have been awful for my family not to be around while that all went on.

I am curious...why do you wish to travel to Australia for this surgery...Is Prof. Molloy no longer operating?

 

[OldManEmu]

Melbourne Surgeons

Melbourne Surgeons

Carol this is a response I posted a couple of months ago to someone asking about surgeons in Australia.
In Melbourne the two surgeons I would recommend are Peter Skillington (public hospital Royal Melbourne, private hospital Epworth) or George Matalanis, (public hospital Austin) George is now the director of cardiac thoracic surgery at Austin I do not know if he still does work in the private system since he accepted this post (he was working also at the Knox hospital and the Epworth). These are the two top surgeons in Melbourne.
What's wrong with New Zealand surgeons?

 

[carolyncox]

Thanks so much for your feedback, certainly most helpful.

I have yet to see a cardiac thoracic surgeon in Christchurch, but we wanted to research NZ and AU due to my cardiologist and vascular surgeon advising they have never heard of it in the brachiocephalic artery, hence we are concerned, and want to get the best advice available, even if it means we have surgey here in New Zealand.

 

[carolyncox]

By the way, Professor Molloy has retired, he was fantastic!

 

[Jkm7]

I just now, reading this thread, realized you do not refer to surgeons as Dr. in NZ and Australia? They are Mr/Ms?

 

[sue943]

That is probably brought over from the UK, all our surgeons are Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms, Prof. They would get a bit upset to be called Doctor. It stems back to when barbers performed surgery, they were not medically trained doctors therefore had the title of Mr and not Dr. Now traditionally all surgeons drop the title of Dr.

 

[JCSydney]

You might want to contact my surgeon Dr Manu Mathur who operates out of North Shore Private and Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, I was very happy with him.

Jeff.

 

[Robert]

Ive been to a few hospitals in Sydney but I was blessed to be at the wonderful hands of Professor Alan Farnsworth at St Vincents Public Hospital in Sydney during my most difficult time in 1996 and then again in 2001 (my last surgery). I am not sure if he is still practicing but the man is a Godsend. His last surgery on me in 2001 he basically went in blind dealing with a lot of bleeding and scar tissue - I have a very complicated and long history. He could not have done a successful surgery in 2001 without the foresight of drawing diagrams and notes that he took from his previous surgery on me in 1996. The Cardio team at St Vincents were nothing short of miracle workers and I hope that if he is not practicing anymore (although I'm sure he's still very much involved) that his legacy lives on within his peers. I owe that man my life, and my wonderful wife and 2 little boys thank him with all their hearts. The man recently was awarded the Honour of being a Member of the Order of Australia http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honou..._id=1133752&search_type=advanced&showInd=true

 

[aussigal]

Ive been to a few hospitals in Sydney but I was blessed to be at the wonderful hands of Professor Alan Farnsworth at St Vincents Public Hospital in Sydney during my most difficult time in 1996 and then again in 2001 (my last surgery). I am not sure if he is still practicing but the man is a Godsend. His last surgery on me in 2001 he basically went in blind dealing with a lot of bleeding and scar tissue - I have a very complicated and long history. He could not have done a successful surgery in 2001 without the foresight of drawing diagrams and notes that he took from his previous surgery on me in 1996. The Cardio team at St Vincents were nothing short of miracle workers and I hope that if he is not practicing anymore (although I'm sure he's still very much involved) that his legacy lives on within his peers. I owe that man my life, and my wonderful wife and 2 little boys thank him with all their hearts. The man recently was awarded the Honour of being a Member of the Order of Australia http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honou..._id=1133752&search_type=advanced&showInd=true

WOW!!!!!...that's an impressive heart-history Robert!...happy to hear it has settled down now and life is great! WELCOME to the family. good to have you here.

 

[surfsparky]

Hi Robert,

Just wanted to welcome you too. I was reading your extensive heart-history and you've been thru SO much. Chris and I are the same age as you...but boy, you definitely win the prize of the most health problems.
Great to hear you so positive and upbeat.

Cheers,
Yolanda

 

[Robert]

Thanks for the warm welcome Its been a long, emotional and problematic journey with some very difficult decisions to be made along the way but I'm still here! . I joined this forum yesterday because I felt that maybe I could learn a few things from other people about how they have coped with post surgery life and how they are handling their long term condition and medication/health. I also thought maybe I might have some advice or stories of experiences I've had along the way that could be of some benefit to somebody. I know that I have helped in some way toward the research for better designed mechanical heart valves so thats a big plus lol. i.e. I was advised by my surgeon that my latest valve was specially designed from research done to my old valves and from the particular problems I was having. I dont know the specifics, just that it has something to do with wider and different type of outer material to suture into in this St Jude valve?? Whatever it is, it works a treat!!!

 

[Harpoon]

Dr. Roger Mee went back to Australia a few years ago, I don't know if he's retired or not though.

He was THE top pediatric heart surgeon in the United States for about 12 years or so before he packed it up to head back to Australia. He's born a New Zealander.

Granted, I'm biased because he fixed me (the second time,) but there aren't too many doctors who have books written about them and there aren't too many pediatric heart surgeons who have the kind of success rates he's had across the board.

If he's still cutting, he's worth talking to.

 

[carolyncox]

Thanks

Thanks

Hi everyone, thanks for all your advice in regarding surgeons. I am hoping to get an appointment with a surgeon here in Christchurch in the next couple of weeks, and after reading your stories as well as this forum, I have more questions in regards to my surgeon, such as replacing my valve, and ascending aorta, and if they have to do my arch (hope not!) as well how far up my brachiocephalic artery. Once I have that info, I will be looking into their statistics as to how many of these type of surgeries they have done, and how good they are with DHCA. I have learnt so much from this forum, and for that I am grateful. I am also going to push for another CT scan since the last one was done in Feb measuring 4.6 for ascending and 3.2 brachio
and we want to see if its still growing or stable. I know my cardiologist will stick to the policy of 5.0 for surgery, but as my brachiocephalic is also a concern, as it is causing the cough that I have.

Many thanks once again.