By Lyndy Berryhill

VIDALIA — In a region of the country where complications from diabetes and high blood pressure are common, health care professionals are stepping up to meet community needs with the first perfusion vascular lab in the area.

The lab is a joint effort between theh perfusion vascular lab at Promise Hospital of the Miss-Lou and Medcentris, which operates the outpatient wound care clinic.

The lab’s surgeons will specialize in reestablishing blood flow in the legs and feet, treating patients with chronic leg pain, cramps and other complications caused by poor circulation, which are common among patients with diabetes and high blood pressure.

Mississippi and Louisiana have a high concentration of diabetics. Nearly 12 percent of adult Mississippians have diabetes, and nearly 14 percent of Adams County residents have diabetes, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. John White, director of wound care at Promise Hospital, said the lab treated its first four cases at the new facility earlier this month

“It’s filling a tremendous need,” he said.

White is also an ear, nose and throat specialist at Riverpark Medical Center.

Medcentris, which operates the hospital’s wound-care clinic, has partnered with perfusion vascular lab to start the project. Like the wound clinic, surgeons will have predetermined days set aside for the satellite lab at Promise Hospital.

White said the lab offers a newer, less invasive procedure that uses an ultrasound machine to identify blood clots and areas of poor circulation, and then uses a balloon re-expand veins to improve blood flow.

White said the new procedure allows patients to recover in less time and receive adequate care without invasive surgery.

“It expedites their treatment plan,” he said.

Many patients coming to the hospital suffer from poor vascular circulation, White said. As wound care director, he will refer them to the vascular lab for follow-up care.

The hospital’s new outpatient wound-care clinic, which has seen more than 100 patients since opening last month, will work in tandem with the perfusion vascular lab, White said.

The two-room wound-care clinic houses three or four specialists who treat 20 to 30 patients per week. It is designed to provide follow up treatment from those treated at Promise as well as help anyone with post-operative or recurring ulcers.

“(The wound care clinic) helps screen people who have compromised blood flow,” White said.

One of the major issues the wound care clinic sees, White said, is patients who do not heal as quickly as they should because of poor circulation.

With the necessary follow-up procedures at the vascular lab, White said wounds will heal much quicker once proper blood flow is established.

White said making sure patients avoid amputations if possible is one of the main goals of the clinic.

“We want to do whatever it takes,” White said.

For patients to receive the same quality of treatment outside the region, White said they would have to travel as far as Jackson, Baton Rouge or New Orleans.

Access to telemedicine at the new lab will also be available, which will allow staff and patients to interact with vascular surgeons via live videoconference.

“It gives doctors the opportunity to help treat patients anywhere in the world,” White said.

Promise Hospital will host an open house on Jan. 18. The public will be able to tour the facilities as well as see the equipment used in the procedures.