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While most people know that a cardiologist treats the heart and a podiatrist deals with feet, specialists abound in the medical field — and many aren’t in our everyday vernacular. Although the benefits of seeing a doctor who is dedicated to a specific field can be great, it’s important to educate yourself on what exactly they treat.
These are just a few of the specialists to be found in the midstate:
Pediatric nephrology
Ask Dr. Steven Wassner about his specialty, and he’ll probably say it’s a bit like an insurance policy.
“You never want to actually activate it,” he said. But, for those who need it, “it’s good to know a center like this exists in central Pennsylvania.”
Wassner, chief of pediatric nephrology and hypertension at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, joined the staff more than three decades ago. After medical school, he completed both a residency to become a certified pediatrician as well as a nephrology fellowship — and then went on to develop the program in Hershey.
Pediatric nephrologists such as Wassner treat problems with children’s kidneys and blood pressure. “Whereas high blood pressure is very common in the adult population, it’s less common in pediatrics and the causes are somewhat different,” he said. About 70 percent of the time in children, it’s due to a kidney issue.
Although it’s a small specialty — Wassner estimates there are only about 500 to 600 pediatric nephrologists in the country — it’s no less crucial in the world of specialists. For example, unlike the standards for high blood pressure in adults, which are always the same, they differ in children, depending on height, gender and age. “It’s a little more complex,” Wassner said. He and others at Hershey Medical Center often serve as a resource for other doctors in addition to the population they treat on a daily basis.
Endocrinology
The word “hormones” may be most familiar when referring to teenagers going through puberty, but they’re not just components of a person’s reproductive system. Dr. Olusola Osundeko, endocrinologist at Holy Spirit Hospital in East Pennsboro Twp., has worked for 11 years to correct hormone problems that affect many aspects of the body. In addition to his medical school degree, Osundeko completed six years of specialist training in his field and is also the medical director of Holy Spirit’s endocrinology center.
Specialists such as Osundeko treat the glands of the endocrine system, including the thyroid, pituitary and adrenal glands, which secrete hormones into the blood. Disorders including polycystic ovarian disease, irregular periods, erectile dysfunction, osteoporosis and all types of diabetes can be common endocrine issues that Osundeko sees on a regular basis. For example, “diabetes affects about 26 million people in this country,” he said, and the issue lies in hormone production or use. Primary care physicians, who don’t have extensive backgrounds in hormone secretion, rely on specialists like Osundeko to tackle these conditions.
In many situations, hormone replacement can be a typical treatment for endocrine issues — and it makes a huge impact. “We’ll test them first to see if the hormone is lacking or being made in excess,” Osundeko said. “If it’s deficient, we’ll replace the hormone. If it’s in excess, we may have to destroy the organ making the excess.”
Rheumatology
When understanding the world of specialists, most doctors pinpoint their area of expertise to an organ or body part. According to Dr. Mariam Khan, there’s no such simple answer for her specialty. “It’s hard to explain what a rheumatologist actually does,” said Khan, rheumatologist at PinnacleHealth Medical and Surgical Associates in Lower Paxton Twp. “The reason being that the diseases that we treat are actually not organ specific. They can affect the whole body.”
Khan, who completed five years of training after medical school — three years doing an internal medicine residency and another two with a rheumatology fellowship — said most people equate rheumatology with arthritis and diseases of the joints, which is true. However, many conditions that she treats affect other organs as well.
For example, autoimmune disorders such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis are cases where the body’s immune system is attacking its own organ systems. “We see disorders of muscle inflammation, disorders of the skin and inflammatory conditions of the blood vessels,” which can affect the blood supply to an organ, she said. Fibromyalgia, a condition of musculoskeletal pain coupled with fatigue and mood issues, is another disorder she treats, and it’s a response to stress.
“A lot of things that we treat are very common in the general population,” said Khan, and they can cause serious damage if left untreated. “It can involve much more than a joint. It can involve your nerves, your skin, your lungs, your heart.”
Hospital medicine
When you’re sick, it’s likely the first person you’ll visit is your primary care physician. But when you’re in the hospital, you may see a new kind of practitioner — and a fairly recent breed of specialist.
“A ‘hospitalist’ is a term used for physicians who specialize in the care of patients in the hospital,” said Dr. Basant K. Mittal, director of the hospitalist program at Good Samaritan Hospitalin Lebanon. “It is almost the counterpart of a general practitioner or family physician who takes care of patients in the office. Hospitalists take care of patients in the hospital.”
Mittal has worked as a hospitalist for five years, for a total of 29 years in the medical field. The term “hospitalist” has only existed since the 1990s. After medical school, hospitalists must also train to be internists — physicians who specialize in diagnosing and treating diseases — although Mittal is board certified in multiple specialties, including internal medicine and pediatrics.
As the medical care of hospital patients becomes more complex and demanding, “more and more doctors who are in practice do not have time or expertise to take care of patients in their office as well as in the hospital,” Mittal said. Because they specialize in the care of patients who are in the hospital — including having expertise in the hospital’s inner workings and patients’ post-acute care, these specialists can often provide better, faster care than a primary care doctor based out of an office.
Plus, said Mittal, “They’re practicing on-site. If the patient or their families have any questions, hospitalists can literally be at the patient’s bedside within a minute.”
Written by NOREEN LIVOTI For The Patriot-News
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