Tag Archives: Dr. Rafael Beltran

Overseas Radio Follow-up

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As a follow-up for all the overseasradio.com radio listeners (and all my loyal readers) I have posted some additional information on the topics covered during the radio program with Ilene Little from Traveling for Health.com including contact information for several of the physicians mentioned.

in the Operating Room at New Bocagrande Hospital

Thoracic Surgery

Esophageal cancer – during the segment we highlighted the importance of seeking surgical treatment for esophageal cancer at a high-volume center.  One of the centers we mentioned was the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Pittsburgh, PA – and the work of Dr. Benny Weksler, MD.

Dr. Benny Weksler*, MD

Hillman Cancer Center

5115 Centre Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA 15232

Phone: (412) 648-6271

He is an Associate Professor in Cardiothoracic Surgery and Chief of Thoracic Surgery at UPMC and the UPMC Cancer Center.  (For more information on Dr. Weksler, esophageal cancer, and issues in thoracic surgery – see my sister site, Cirugia de Torax.org)

(To schedule an appointment via UPMC on-line click here).

We also briefly mentioned Dr. Daniela Molena*, MD at John Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Johns Hopkins Hospital

600 N. Wolfe Street

Baltimore, MD 21287

Phone: 410-614-3891

Appointment Phone: 410-933-1233

(The link above will take readers to the John Hopkins site where they can also make an appointment.)

* I would like to note that I have not observed either of these physicians (Weksler or Molena) in the operating room.

We also talked about several of the thoracic surgeons that I have interviewed and observed numerous times, including both Dr. Rafael Beltran, MD & Dr. Ricardo Buitrago, MD at the National Cancer Institute in Bogotá, Colombia.  These guys are doing some pretty amazing work, on a daily basis – including surgery and research on the treatment of some very aggressive cancers.

in the operating room with Dr. Rafael Beltran

Dr. Rafael Beltran is the Director of the Thoracic Surgery division, and has published several papers on tracheal surgery.   He’s an amazing surgeon, but primarily speaks Spanish, but his colleague Dr. Buitrago (equally excellent) is fully fluent in English.

Now the National Institute website is in Spanish, but Dr. Buitrago is happy to help, and both he and Dr. Beltran welcome overseas patients.

Dr. Buitrago recently introduced RATS (robot assisted thoracic surgery) to the city of Bogotá.

Now, I’ve written about these two surgeons several times (including two books) after spending a lot of time with both of them during the months I lived and researched surgery in Bogotá, so I have included some links here to the on-line journal I kept while researching the Bogotá book.  It’s not as precise, detailed or as lengthy as the book content (more like a diary of my schedule while working on the book), but I thought readers might enjoy it.

In the Operating Room with Dr. Beltran

There are a lot of other great surgeons on the Bogotá website, and in the Bogotá book – even if they didn’t get mentioned on the show, so take a look around, if you are interested.

in the operating room with Dr. Ricardo Buitrago

Contact information:

Dr. Ricardo Buitrago, MD 

Email: buitago77us@yahoo.com

please put “medical tourist” or “overseas patient for thoracic surgery” in the subject line.

We talked about Dr. Carlos Ochoa, MD – the thoracic surgeon I am currently studying with here in Mexicali, MX.  I’ve posted all sorts of interviews and stories about working with him – here at Cartagena Surgery under the “Mexicali tab” and over at Cirugia de Torax.org as well.  (Full disclosure – I assisted Dr. Ochoa in writing some of the English content of his site.)

out from behind the camera with Dr. Ayala (left) and Dr. Carlos Ochoa

He is easily reached – either through the website, www.drcarlosochoa.com or by email at drcarlosochoa@yahoo.com.mx

HIPEC / Treatment for Advanced Abdominal Cancers

I don’t think I even got to mention Dr. Fernando Arias’ name on the program, but we did talk about HIPEC or intra-operative chemotherapy, so I have posted some links to give everyone a little more information about both.

HIPEC archives at Bogotá Surgery.org – listing of articles about HIPEC, and Dr. Arias.  (I recommend starting from oldest to most recent.)

Dr. Fernando Arias

Oncologic Surgeon at the Fundacion Santa Fe de Bogotá in Bogotá, Colombia.  You can either email him directly at farias00@hotmail.com or contact the International Patient Center at the hospital.  (The international patient center will help you arrange all of your appointments, travel, etc.)

Fundacion Santa Fe de Bogota

   www.fsfb.org.co

Ms. Ana Maria Gonzalez Rojas, RN

Chief of the International Services Department

Calle 119 No 7- 75

Bogota, Colombia

Tele: 603 0303 ext. 5895

ana.gonzalez@fsfb.org.co  or info@fsfb.org.co

Now – one thing I would like to caution people is that email communications are treated very differently in Mexico and Colombia, meaning that you may not get a response for a day or two.  (They treat it more like we treat regular postal mail.  If something is really important, people tend to use the phone/ text.)

Of course, I should probably include a link to the books over on Amazon.com – and remind readers that while the Mexicali ‘mini-book’ isn’t finished yet – when it is – I’ll have it available on-line for free pdf downloads.

In the operating room with Dr. Rafael Beltran, Thoracic Surgeon

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Dr. Rafael Beltran, Thoracic Surgeon

Spent the morning at the National Cancer Institute, which really is a pretty amazing place, with a pretty amazing guy – Dr. Rafael Beltran. He’s one of the many incredible people I’ve met here – that truly make the world a better place through their work. I could have spent all day with him, seeing patients, surgery, discussing his cases and research – (Heck – I’d love to work with him!) but unfortunately, I had to race across town after several hours for another interview..

Dr. Beltran (tall gentleman on the left) and his surgical team

I really like this picture here, I think it highlights one of the important aspects of surgery – the surgical team.. As you can see above, Dr. Beltran (left) certainly doesn’t work in isolation – and that’s his philosophy about cancer care – the surgeons from different specialties work together closely, along with oncologists, radiologists, hematologists, therapists and other specialties to give well-coordinated, and well-rounded care. While I was the operating room, I stood next to a shy young woman.. After I badgered her for a little bit – she told me her story. She’s a respiratory therapist – and she was watching the surgery, so she would better understand how to take care of her lung surgery patients – and to understand exactly what they had been through. Not often do surgeons find room in their ORs for respiratory therapists – but Dr. Beltran understands that by having this young woman here observing – she learned more today than she could ever glean from books.. By doing so – he’s integrated her into the surgical team, and that’s important when often today’s medicine is an exercise in fractured and fragmented care.

In the operating rooms all around us – the same thing was occurring, with orthopedics, plastic surgery, neurosurgery.. As you can tell – on all my visits to the National Cancer Center, I’ve been very impressed with the physician commitment and the level of care.

As I raced off – I received a text that the doctor I was next scheduled to meet had to go to another hospital – he offered to meet me there, but he had an emergency, so I thought it best to reschedule for when he had more time.  I’m really looking forward to talking to him – so I didn’t want him to be too distracted.. I get the best interviews when we can just sit down and talk..

Then – a thoracic surgeon we’ve talked about before – texted me that he had 2 interesting cases – did I want to go? So I spent he remainder of the afternoon talking with Dr. Juan Carlos Garzon, thoracic surgeon. I’m glad I did – because I had lots of questions from our previous interviews, and between cases, he spent the time to answer my lingering questions; about his practice, about thoracic surgery in general, and about Colombian medicine so it was definitely a worthwhile trip..

  Dr. Juan Carlos Garzon, Thoracic Surgeon..

Dr. Beltran and Dr. Renteria, Thoracic Surgeons

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Spent a fascinating morning over at the National Cancer Insitute with Dr. Rafael Beltran, the Chief of Thoracic Surgery.  Since the cancer institute is the biggest hospital specializing in cancer treatment – Dr. Beltran sees most of the rare and unusual cancers affecting the chest.  He also have a keen interest in tracheal surgery, and has published (in collaboration with Dr. Barrios) several articles on the topic recently.  (Guess we’ll have to tap into his expertise for a guest publication over at CirugiadeTorax.org)

Hoping to follow him to the OR next week.

Then I spent the afternoon over at Hospital de Kennedy with Dr. Nelson Renteria.

Dr. Nelson Renteria, Thoracic & Vascular Surgeon

Today he performed a VATs decortication for a stage III empyema (which is one of my favorite cases – but that’s another discussion entirely.)  Going back tomorrow to see some of his vascular cases.

Dr. Renteria in the operating room