Sven Hida, MD, a gastroenterologist who recently joined Albany (N.Y.) Medical Center, performed the hospital's first peroralendoscopic myotomy procedure, according to HealthCanal.
Here are five highlights:
1. The peroralendoscopic myotomy, or POEM, procedure is an incision-less surgery that corrects swallowing and digestive disorders. Traditional methods to correct these disorders have always required at least two abdominal incisions, often more.
2. The POEM procedure is only offered at a handful of medical centers in the United States.
3. In addition to the POEM procedure, Dr. Hida plans to perform the region's first endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty, a weight-loss procedure that was recently approved by the FDA, later this year.
4. Dr. Hida currently serves as the director of endoscopy services and head of the section of interventional endoscopy Albany Medical Center's Digestive Disease Center.
5. Dr. Hida earned his medical degree from St. George's University School of Medicine in the West Indies and completed both his residency in internal medicine and fellowship in gastroenterology at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y.