Beta blocker medications are the mainstay of therapy for most patients with the long QT syndrome. These medications are effective in about 90 % of affected subjects. However, a new study (Association of Long QT Syndrome Loci and Cardiac Events Among Patients Treated With Beta Blockers: JAMA. 2004;292:1341-1344) shows that among treated patients with LQT2 and LQT3 genotypes, there still is a high rate of cardiac events.

Maintenance or supportive periodontal therapy is an ongoing program designed to prevent periodontal disease from recurring in patients who have undergone periodontal treatment. This ongoing phase of treatment will allow your periodontist to assess your periodontal health and make sure infection stays under control. During maintenance therapy, your mouth is examined, new calculus and plaque are removed, and, if necessary your teeth are polished and your bite is checked.

No. Nobody is ever asked to ‘confess’ or made to feel embarrassed. In fact, you don’t have to say a single word!

Massage therapy is a comprehensive intervention involving a range of techniques to manipulate the soft tissues and joints of the body. The purpose of massage therapy is to prevent, develop, maintain, rehabilitate or augment physical function or relieve pain. (Massage Therapy Act, 1991)

Your doctor may refer you to a Hand Therapist for a prescribed rehabilitation program. Our staff, which is composed of specially trained Occupational and Physical Therapists, will supervise you to assure that your hand or arm does not have signs of complications such as inflammation or undue swelling, and that it is healing well, an important factor that leads to a rapid return of function.

Some patients will need to continue with home exercises. Some may choose to continue with a gym exercise program. Others will complete their rehabilitation and return to normal daily activities. It is important that you communicate your goals to your therapist, so he/she can develop a custom program for you.

In medicine, standard therapy is a treatment that experts agree is accepted, appropriate and widely used. Healthcare providers are obligated to provide patients with standard therapy. The terms standard of care or best practice are also used.

Treatment techniques implemented by The Right Step help balance, muscle tone, posture, mobility, coordination, sensory registration, modulation of behavior, attention, and homeostasis for improved functioning in everyday life routines.

Music Therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program. (American Music Therapy Association definition, 2005)

The letters stand for transurethral needle ablation. It is a proven, minimally invasive, office based procedure that destroys excess prostate tissue, which may improve urination. It uses radio frequency energy delivered directly to the prostate.

Radiation is a special kind of energy carried by waves or a stream of particles. It can come from special machines or from radioactive substances. When radiation is used at high doses (many times those used for x-ray exams), it can treat cancer and other illnesses. Special equipment is used to aim the radiation at tumors or areas of the body where there is disease. The use of high-energy rays or particles to treat disease is called radiation therapy.

This is actually more of an insurance question. If your carrier will approve an in-home therapy program, we will be happy to give you a prescription for in-home therapy. Otherwise, you will need to visit a physical therapy office for your treatments. The home care department can help you evaluate your insurance coverage for therapy before you leave the hospital.

Platelet transfusions may be necessary to control or prevent excessive bleeding if a patient's body stops producing platelets or produces them in significantly decreased numbers. This commonly occurs as results of leukemia, chemotherapy and radiation, open heart surgery, and trauma associated with a large amount of bleeding.

Your ICD is sensitive enough to deliver therapy as it's required; however, many people never need the therapy. It's still nice to know it's there. Typically, ICD recipients can continue to lead active lives. If you did a certain activity before, more likely than not, you'll be able to continue that activity after ICD implantation. In fact, you should be able to participate in most activities.