Perceptive PCP and smooth referral to cardiology saves patient’s life

Complicated illness was caught in time thanks to good care and attention

When a patient has multiple health problems, it can be challenging to get to the bottom of a new ailment.

Such was the case when Donna Higgins, now 73, visited her doctor, Jessica Canlas, at WellMed at Windcrest in San Antonio.

Donna has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma, both chronic health conditions that can affect breathing. She visited Dr. Canlas in April 2024 for lung congestion and was prescribed antibiotics and a steroid.

When she went back for a follow-up in May, she told Dr. Canlas the medications made her feel better at first, but her symptoms returned. Now, she was short of breath walking from her car into a store.

“What concerned me the most was that the symptoms had improved but then came back,” Dr. Canlas said. It was her next decision that saved Donna’s life.

“I began to think the problem wasn’t so much respiratory as it was her heart,” she said.

Dr. Canlas ordered a computed tomography scan, better known as a CT scan, but the results were not definitive, so she referred Donna to cardiologist Dr. Juan Martinez.

Dr. Martinez, who practices at WellMed Specialists for Health NE Cardiology, decided to order a CT scan with contrast. The contrast made all the difference.

“I was reviewing the scan and saw that she had a pseudo aneurysm in her ascending aorta,” Dr. Martinez said. A pseudo aneurysm, or false aneurysm, happens when blood seeps from an injured part of a blood vessel wall, accumulates in the surrounding tissue and forms a bulge or sack. The aneurysm Dr. Martinez saw was bulging out of Donna’s aorta. It was a life-saving discovery.

There was a complication, though.

“When the surgeon went in to make the repair, he found that there was an infection that got into Donna’s system,” Dr. Martnez said.

It was a resistant type of a staphylococcus infection, or as most people know it, staph infection, that had eaten into the aorta, causing the weak spot on the artery wall that caused the blood to leak.

The infection, though rare, is life-threatening.

After the successful surgery, Donna was in the hospital for a week and started receiving an aggressive course of intravenous antibiotics.

She also went through cardiac rehabilitation and is now feeling much better.

Her daughter Elizabeth Higgins couldn’t be happier.

“She didn’t realize how much something was weighing her down before,” Elizabeth said. “Once she got through the hard part of the recovery, she said she felt lighter than she has in years.”

Dr. Martinez credits Dr. Canlas for her spot-on instincts.

“Dr. Canlas was astute enough to see that something wasn’t right,” he said.

He also expressed his appreciation for the refined CT scans that are available now.

“Over the last 9 to 10 years, CT scans have become much more sensitive,” he said. “Many cardiologists have gravitated to the CT scan to detect heart blockages. Not only do they tell us if there are blockages but can also catch if there are abnormalities such as lung cancers.”

All Elizabeth knows is that her mother is alive and feeling much better.

“If not for the care she received from her WellMed physicians, she may not be here right now,” she said.