Thank you very much for contacting our practice regarding the diagnosis and treatment of CCSVI. Our practice offers comprehensive imaging (such as Doppler ultrasound and MR venography) and interventional services to treat this condition, including venography, angioplasty, and stent placement. As you already know, this is potentially a very exciting and groundbreaking advance in the treatment of patients with multiple sclerosis.
During the past several weeks, we have received a multitude of phone calls from patients wishing to be treated by our practice. We have a very busy interventional practice and have always been able to accommodate patients who wish to schedule a variety of procedures with our practice. The demand for this particular service has greatly exceeded our expectations, and we have found ourselves trying to "catch up" with this demand from the very first days that this service was offered.
We wish to maintain the personal service that we have prided ourselves on for many years. Our physicians have been contacting every patient to obtain an initial assessment and to offer an opportunity to have questions answered about CCSVI and the service that we provide in Albany. We have no intention of changing that, but for now, we do need to change the timing of these phone calls.
Starting now, your initial phone call to our practice has placed you onto our waiting list for this procedure. Your position on our list is based on the date that you initially made contact with our office. Please be assured of that. This e-mail will serve as your confirmation. From this point, you will not be receiving any other formal communication from our practice until we have a procedure date to offer you. We may differ from other practices you have contacted because we are not going to hand out dates more than 4 months in advance. The reason for this is that we have already learned that this is a very fluid process. Patients are cancelling when spots at various worldwide centers become available. As a result, we find ourselves constantly offering the next person on our list the opportunity to fill the spot and come to Albany for his or her treatment. While this may be somewhat frustrating to patients waiting to receive a treatment date, it truly is the best way for us to offer appointments to patients as quickly as possible.
From this point, we are asking for your patience. We understand your desire to be treated as quickly as possible, and our commitment to you is that we will continue to find ways to move our list along. Once we have a date available for you, we will be in touch to begin the scheduling process. At that time, a physician will contact you to discuss your individual medical history and the details of the procedure. This will be an opportunity for your questions to be answered. We also have members of our staff who will help you with your travel plans and with payment information. In the interim, please feel free to e-mail us with any questions to
ccsvi@communitycare.com<mailto:
ccsvi@communitycare.com>. In addition, we are in the process of setting up an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section of our website (
http://www.communitycare.com/Practices/ ... /CCSVI.asp) so that we can provide answers to the most commonly asked questions.
Thank you for trusting us with your care. We look forward to meeting you and providing you with this service. We are hopeful that this procedure will provide you with some relief from the symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis.
Sincerely,
Gary Siskin, MD; Kenneth Mandato, MD; Meridith Englander, MD; Allen Herr, MD
