Main Line Rheumatology Becomes Main Line Rheumatology & Osteoporosis

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 28, 2019 Wynnewood, PA… Gary V. Gordon, MD, FACP, FACR, owner of Main Line Rheumatology practice, and chief of Rheumatology, Lankenau Medical Center, announces that Main Line Rheumatology is now called, Main Line Rheumatology & Osteoporosis.

Only our name has changed! The practice of Main Line Rheumatology & Osteoporosis is still independently owned, and its doctors, staff and office locations at Lankenau Medical Center, and Main Line Health Center, in Broomall remain the same.

Why the practice name change? Dr. Gary Gordon said, “Over the last number of years, we have seen a dramatic rise in the number of osteoporosis patients we see, and patients with osteopenia or other fracture risks. Osteoporosis has become our rheumatology practice’s largest growing sub-medical specialty. Adding “osteoporosis” to Main Line Rheumatology, creates a more defining description of our practice, today.”
Osteoporosis is a common rheumatology disease.

According to recent statistics from the National Osteoporosis Foundation, osteoporosis is responsible for an estimated two million broken bones per year, yet nearly 80 percent of older Americans who suffer bone breaks are not tested or treated for osteoporosis. Approximately 10 million Americans have osteoporosis and another 44 million have low bone density, placing them at increased risk. One in two women, and up to one in four men over age 50, will break a bone due to osteoporosis.

Dr. Gordon added, “Our doctors and staff are committed to treating our osteoporosis patients. I encourage individuals who have noticeable symptoms (i.e. back pain, fractured or collapsed vertebra, loss of height over time, stooped posture, or a bone that breaks much more easily than expected) to make an appointment with a rheumatologist for diagnosis. Pro-active testing and treatment could stave off fractures, or full-blown disease.”

 

 

Main Line Rheumatology Welcomes New Staff Rheumatologist, Hyon Ju Park, MD

Philadelphia, PA May 9, 2019… Main Line Rheumatology is excited to announce that we have added Hyon Ju Park, MD, to our staff of rheumatologists. Dr. Park has an impressive resume. She is board-certified in rheumatology and internal medicine, and certified in clinical densitometry (bone density studies).  Dr. Park graduated Columbia University in 2003 with a degree in biochemistry, and graduated Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, in 2007. She completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri as well as a rheumatology fellowship and additional research fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Dr. Park has been an avid contributor to medical publishing including editorials, reviews, case reports and many book chapters. She has a special interest in lupus, vasculitis, and periodic fever syndromes.

Dr. Park is the mother of two children, and her husband is a cancer researcher at the University of Pennsylvania.

Main Line Rheumatology Doctors Awarded 2018 TOP DOCS by Main Line Today Magazine

Main Line Rheumatology is proud to announce Gary Gordon, MD, FACP, FACR, Thomas Harder, MD and Amy Lundholm, DO have been named TOP DOCTORS, Rheumatology, 2018, by Main Line Today Magazine. #rheumatology #topdoctors2018 #topdoctors #mainlinerheumatology #rheumatologist #Lankenau Medical Center #Main Line Health

Main Line Rheumatology News

Main Line Rheumatology is more mobile! Our improved mobile website now makes it easier for you to be well informed, every day! Read all about our doctors, get office information, learn more about diseases we treat, read about us in the News, and catch up on daily social media posts ~ all in one place. Come visit!

Gary V. Gordon, MD, FACP, FACR Awarded 2018 Rheumatologist of the Year by The Arthritis Foundation

Gary V. Gordon, MD, FACP, FACR, Chief of Rheumatology, Lankenau Medical Center, Wynnewood, PA received the 2018 Rheumatologist of the Year Award from The Arthritis Foundation. He is pictured with Holly Maddams, Executive Director of the Arthritis Foundation, Eastern PA. Dr. Gordon was honored on October 5, 2018 at The Arthritis Foundation’s Bone Bash, held at Mutter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. 

Is Dr. Google Smarter Than My Doctor?

Most patients who are curious and comfortable using the internet, often go to Google to check out information that their doctor gave them during an office visit. Is Dr. Google always dependable or useful?  Sometimes.

While online, patients visit websites, enter chat rooms or interact online with friends and family in the differential diagnosis of possibilities that might prove helpful in finding additional information, helping to facilitate a full and accurate diagnosis and treatment plan.  On the other hand, not all websites, chat rooms or friends and family’s opinions are created equal.  I have found the most dependable information on medical school-related websites such as Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, U Penn and Stanford University. In comparison and in my medical opinion, I often disagree with information presented on WebMD and Drugs.com, among other websites.

It is helpful in maintaining a good and trusted relationship with your doctor to ask whether information you have discovered makes sense in your medical condition, or case.  Confronting your doctor and saying he or she is “wrong” and that you have discovered “correct” data from WebMD, for example, not only weakens your doctor-patient trust bond, but can burn bridges and end up being of little help. Today, patients want to be informed consumers. I applaud being curious and responsible in the quest for answers; this is our new normal. But some medical information available to patients online, even on trusted websites as above, can be easily misunderstood or read out of context, such as listed medication side effects, or even dangerous drug combinations. Every patient is an individual. Every medical condition is unique to each individual patient. Let your doctor who is your trusted medical partner and knows your personal medical history, listen to everything you have to share and about your concerns and address your diagnosis and treatment.

When watching TV drug commercials, if you are a patient with a certain condition or disease, you know the frightened reaction you may have when hearing about serious drug side effects, especially the biologics which doctors use to treat rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis.  Are they real side effects that could actually affect youYes and no. The drug manufacturer is concerned about liability and being sued for not stating a list of potential side effects, and after seeing the commercial, we ask ourselves, “Why would anyone in their right mind take on such risk?”  For example, most of these commercials talk about cancer and lymphoma.  To the best of my knowledge, there are no recent studies showing an increase in the frequency of solid tumors.  Lymphomas occur more commonly in rheumatoid arthritis, regardless of whether patients are on a biologic (drug) agent, and it is still unclear whether the biologic drugs like Humira or Enbrel, increase the risk of lymphomas.  Not treating an active disease like rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis, can have its own obvious consequences.

So what is the conclusion? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Be an informed consumer, discuss with your doctor and together, agree on the right treatment for you.