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The Global Newsletter from The Flow Measurement Specialists - January, 2004

Dear Cerebrovascular Surgeon, We are bringing you this special edition of Flow-QC® News because it is particularly relevant to your specialization - Cerebrovascular Surgery. Quantitative measurement of blood flow in cerebral vessels during cerebrovascular aneurysm surgery helps prevent ischemic injury and improve patient outcome. Transonic Systems' ergonomic, perivascular bayonet probe permits access to cerebral vessels to measure volume flow during aneurysm clipping surgery. Its stable readings are instrumental in surgical management of intracranial aneurysms.

Beyond Doppler Volume Flow When Minutes Count “Including flow in my surgical approach gives me a high degree of control over surgical outcome...This translates into peace of mind for the patient and me, and saves money for the hospital.” F.T. Charbel, MD

This Issue Features:

Application News New Flow Assisted Aneurysm Surgery Handbook! Aneurysm Clipping Protocol New Arterial (STS-MCA) EC-IC Bypass Protocol Cerebral Aneurysm / EC-IC Bypass Case Studies Neurosurgery Case Examples on Video Product Development Intracranial Flowprobes New Surgical / ICU Product Catalogs Dollars and Cents Reimbursement for the Use of the Charbel Flowprobe Transonic Citations in Recent Publications Quantitative Assessment of Vessel Flow Integrity for Aneurysm Surgery STA-MCA Bypass Cut Flow Index Upcoming Events Neurosurgery Cardiovascular

Applications News

Flow-Assisted Aneurysm Surgery Our new handbook presents preservation of blood flow during intracranial aneurysm surgery with transit-time ultrasound flowmetry. Restoration and maintenance of blood flow is tantamount to the functional success of aneurysm surgery and to a patient’s unimpaired recovery. This surgical success is facilitated when quantitative hemodynamic effects can be considered during surgical aneurysm management. Cerebral Aneurysm / EC-IC Bypass Case Studies >Entire PowerPoint (6.5 MB Download) Cerebral Aneurysm Right Cerebellar Aneurysm Carotid Ophthalmic Aneurysm Internal Carotid and Anterior Communicating Aneurysms Multi-Lobulated Middle Cerebral Artery Aneurysm EC-IC Bypass Case Study Superficial Temporary Artery - Middle Cerebral Artery Bypass Neurosurgery Case Examples on Video These video case examples show how intraoperative vessel flow measurements help the neurosurgeon achieve optimal patient outcomes in cerebrovascular surgery. The events shown on the video are described for each case example and have been numbered sequentially to help the viewer locate points of interest.  To request a copy of these case examples on Video please contact Glenn Drost.

Product Development

Intracranial Flowprobes Non-constrictive Charbel Micro-Flowprobes measure blood flow in major cerebral vessels during aneurysm clipping surgery. The probes use ultrasonic transit-time principles to directly measure volume blood flow, not velocity. Measurements detect low flow states to help prevent intraoperative stroke. >Intracranial Probe Specifications   New - Surgical / ICU Product Catalogs Asia USA and Canada Europe and Global

Dollars and Cents

Reimbursement for the use of the Charbel Flowprobe

One of our Neurosurgery customers reports that he has significant success with private insurers, in receiving reimbursement of professional fees for using the disposable Charbel probes. He submits his claims using the CPT Code # 64999 - "Unlisted procedure, nervous system" and includes a letter outlining how the probes are used, the benefit they provide in guiding his surgery, and the potential costs savings attributable to their use.

He recounts that his staff needed to re-submit these requests at first. Once he passed that hurdle, his staff reported that they received reimbursement in about 30% of the cases. Over time, this percentage has increased. He now collects around 55% of his professional charges for the use of the Charbel probe (above and beyond the collections for the aneurysm and EC/IC bypass surgery). He attributes his success to the letter he includes with the claim, and the persistence of his billing department in not accepting “no” as an answer.

Please contact Transonic for a draft of the supporting documentation that could be included with the reimbursement request.
 

Transonic Flow-QC® References in Recent Publications

Quantitative assessment of vessel flow integrity for aneurysm surgery Charbel et al., J. Neurosurgery, December 1999 Quantitative measurement of blood flow in cerebral vessels during aneurysm surgery can help prevent ischemic injury and improve patient outcome. STA-MCA Bypass Charbel et al., J. Neurosurgery, January 2005 Presents the technical nuances which have been developed to avert potential pitfalls in the performance of the superficial temporal artery to middle cerebral artery (STA-MCA) bypass procedure. Cut Flow Index Amin-Hanjani et al., J. Neurosurgery, January 2005 Evaluates the utility of intra-operative blood flow measurements in predicting graft success after EC-IC bypass. More Neurosurgery References

Upcoming Events - Where Transonic Will Have a Booth

Neurosurgery Related Events FR/GER Congress for Neurosurgery May 7-11 - Strasbourg, France World Congress of Neurological Surgery June 19-24 - Marrakesh, Morocco Cardiovascular Related Events American Association of Thoracic Surgeons April 2-6, 2005 - San Francisco, CA Society for Vascular Ultrasound (SVU) June 16-19, 2005 - Chicago, IL

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