Patient thanks Dr. Quartell for making her quality of living better!

December 19th, 2011

Seen in our office for a post operative visit, Dr. Quartell’s patient Linda reflected on the discomfort and pain she had experienced during the last year because of a large fibroid and perpetual bleeding ” It was awful.  I bled all the time, had no energy and was uncomfortable to the point of actually feeling pain”.  She explained that she has felt 100% better since her surgery performed earlier in the month.  Dr. Quartell had removed her uterus which contained a large fibroid through laparoscopic surgery, leaving her cervix in tact (laparoscopic supra cervical hysterectomy).  At her recent visit, she relayed that she had gone back to work already and would even be returning to the gym this week.  Most patients react similar to Linda once they have had the surgery and in fact, we have not heard of any negative responses from our patients to this surgery at all.

Anthony C. Quartell, MD & Associates serves Livingston, Millburn, West Orange and surrounding areas.

Posted in gynecological problem, surgery |

Patient was amazed at her quick recovery from her Laparoscopic Hysterectomy

December 5th, 2011

On Friday of this past week, a patient seen for her post operative appointment revealed to the staff of Dr. Anthony C. Quartell that she was amazed at her quick recovery from the Laparoscopic Hysterectomy Dr. Quartell performed on her the week before.  “I don’t even feel as though I had surgery.  I plan on going back to work Monday and I have already gone shopping.  Dr. Quartell is the best!” 

This patient had a large fibroid that had caused her much discomfort and bleeding and consequently, she was referred to Dr. Quartell by her regular gynecologist to discuss the benefits of undergoing laparoscopic hysterectomy as opposed to the traditional open method.  Prior to her exam, the patient was not sure whether she wanted the surgery despite her gynecologist’s advice, however; at her appointment last Friday she claimed she could not believe she hesitated at all.  “If I had known the surgery would go so well and I would recover so quickly, I never would have hesitated. I knew that most women who had hysterectomies spent several days in the hospital and were not supposed to drive or return to work for weeks and I knew I could not do that.  I have two young kids and a job so I could not risk being out so long, but after having the laparoscopic hysterectomy I was able to do everything pretty much right away.”

Anthony C. Quartell, MD serves the Northern New Jersey areas comprised of Essex, Morris, Union, Passaic, Hudson and Sussex Counties.

Posted in gynecological problem, surgery |

Laparoscopic Hysterectomy

November 28th, 2011

At the 11/5/11 Saint Barnabas Ob/gyn department seminar on Advanced Gynecologic Surgery; The Laparoscopic Hysterectomy, which was coordinated by Anthony C. Quartell, MD and the Ob/gyn department staff, Dr. Quartell’s objectives included the need to examine the rationale for the choice of laparoscopic hysterectomy, to compare the potential advantages of laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomy (lsh), abdominal hysterectomy and vaginal hysterectomy, to identify the indications and contraindications for LSH and finally, to describe the surgical technique for performing laparoscopic hysterectomy.  The response to this topic was received extremely well by an audience comprised of more than 80 physicians from all over the state of New Jersey.  These highly skilled physicians and surgeons  showed great  interest in The Laparoscopic Hysterectomy and its many benefits to the female population they treat.

Anthony C. Quartell, MD serves the areas of Livingston, N.J., Florham Park, N.J, East Hanover, N.J., Whippany, N.J. and surrounding areas.

Posted in gynecological problem, surgery |

Quality of Life is significantly better for LSH patients

November 21st, 2011

As part of the Saint Barnabas Medical Center Department of Ob/gyn and Dr. Anthony Quartell’s  Advanced Gynecologic Surgery symposium on November 5, 2011 at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, a comparative study of Laparascopic Supra Cervical Hysterectomies versus the Total Laparoscopic Hysterectomy revealed that post op quality of life for the Laparoscopic supra cervical approach is significantly higher than that of the total  approach.  The quality of life indexes include physical functioning, bodily pain, general health, vitality, social functioning, emotional and mental health. (Einarsson, et.al. 2011, AJOG).  This study included 122 women undergoing LSH (comprised of 71 TLH and 51 LSH patients) for benign disease during the period of February 2008- January 2010).  Anthony C. Quartell, MD was the Course Director and described to an audience consisting of more than 80 physicians the benefits of the laparoscopic supra cervical hysterectomy compared to  the other types of hysterectomies currently being performed.

Anthony C. Quartell, MD serves the essex county, morris county , union county, passaic county, hudson county and surrounding areas.

Posted in gynecological problem, surgery |

The Laparoscopic Approach

November 14th, 2011

When comparing laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomy and total abdominal hysterectomy outcomes, physicians and patients applaud the advantages of the laparoscopic approach over the abdominal approach.  Some reasons for this include a shorter hospital stay, reduced post-operative pain and a decreased need for narcotics, a quicker return to work and to normal physical activities, an improved cosmesis and reduced wound complications associated with large scars, a signicantly lower wound infection rate and finally, the magnification of anatomy and pathology.  In addition, there is a cost benefit to this approach as well.  The shorter hospital stay and decreased nosocomial infections rate contributes to the hospital cost savings and the decreased need for disability and sick leave lend to the employer cost savings.  Compared to the 6 week recovery period for the total abdominal hysterectomy, the laparoscopic approach typically enables the patient to return to work within one week of surgery thereby, forgoing the need for extended time off.  Finally,  the shorter recovery period requires minimal replacement of child care and/or household services during recovery than the six week period of required recovery for the abdominal hysterectomy.

These are some benefits to this approach, which is why Dr. Anthony Quartell started performing these surgeries more than 5 years ago, before most physicians even comtemplated performing this method of hysterectomy.

Anthony C. Quartell, MD & Associates is the Director of Minimally
Invasive Gynecological Surgery at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, N.J and he  serves the tri state area including Livingston, N.J., Short Hills, N.J., West Orange, N.J., Millburn, N.J. and surrounding areas.

Posted in gynecological problem, surgery |

Laparoscopic Surgery and the 21st Century

November 7th, 2011

Presently 85% of gall bladders are removed laparoscopically and 90% of appendectomies are laparoscopic and yet only 20% of hysterectomies are minimally invasive. However, the pendulum is now shifting.  At one time, the majority of Ob/gyns had minimal or no laparoscopic training.and in fact, physicians who graduated between 1975 and 2005 were not qualified to perform a laparoscopic hysterectomy while these same physicians would care for most of the women who could benefit from a laparoscopic approach to their hysterectomies.  Presently, in 2011, more ob/gyns are beginning to seek laparoscopic surgical training and Dr. Anthony Quartell is the experienced surgeon they are often turning to for help.

Dr. Anthony C. Quartell, the Director of Minimally Invasive Gynecological Surgery at Saint Barnabas Medical Center  led the OB/GYN Department’s Advanced Gynecological Surgery symposium on November 5, 2011 where four other leading physician experts spoke on the subject to an audience of more than 80 physicians.  Dr. Quartell warned that the laparoscopic surgical slope is steep and slippery and requires careful and extensive training in order to avoid any potential patient harm.

Anthony C. Quartell, M.D. serves Livingston, N.J., Millburn, N.J., West Orange, N.J., West Caldwell, N.J., and surrounding areas.

Posted in gynecological problem, surgery |

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology presents: Advanced Gynecologic Surgery: The Laparoscopic Hysterectomy

October 31st, 2011

On Saturday, November 5, 2011 at 7:30am- 4:30pm at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, N.J., the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology presents to a target audience of obstetricians/gynecologists and other physicians, an all day symposium regarding the Advanced Gynecologic Surgery: The Laparoscopic Hysterectomy.  Amongst various other knowledgable speakers, Anthony C. Quartell, MD, the Director of Minimally Invasive Surgery at Saint Barnabas Medical Center and the Course Director for the symposium, will discuss minimally invasive gynecological surgery and the Laparoscopic supra cervical hysterectomy.  Some learning objectives include understanding the procedure, its rationale, and the instrumentation and other technical aspects of peforming the advanced operative laparoscopy as well as evaluating appropriate candidates for  the surgery and its challenges and potential complications and their avoidance.  Dr. Anthony Quartell has performed more than 500 laparoscopic and robotic laparoscopic hysterectomies and myomectomies and is currently in the process of teaching other obstetrician/ gynecologists how to perform the surgeries with the most optimal results.  The symposium will include various other topics conducted by other top physicians who are experts in their fields.

Anthony C. Quartell, MD serves the areas of Northern New Jersey counties such as essex, morris, passaic, union and surrounding areas.

Posted in gynecological problem, surgery |

Patient states that her quality of life is better after her surgery performed by Dr. Anthony Quartell

October 31st, 2011

At her post operative appointment in our office in early October 2011, Janet P. indicated that she wished she had the Laparoscopic supra cervical hysterectomy a long time ago.  ” People had told me to think twice about undergoing the surgery, as I would ‘never be the same’.  Well, they were right, but not in the negative sense of the phrase. My quality of life is much better now that I had the surgery and I have Dr. Quartell to thank”.  Janet continued to tell the Practice Manager that she had seen other physicians who kept telling her to wait, but now that she had the surgery she is no longer  getting up at night with leakage problems.  In addition, Janet works out at the gym and the leakage /bladder problems were a real inconvience to her while exercising until she had this surgery.  She called the surgery a real ” life saver” and emphasized that everything negative she had read about the surgery was not true. 

For patients with similar issues or bleeding and or fibroids, Anthony C. Quartell, MD serves the essex, morris and surrounding counties.

Posted in gynecological problem, surgery |