What is Internal Medicine

Dr. Kenworthy’s internal medicine practice involves the acute and chronic care of most disease processes. These include cardiac, pulmonary, renal, gastro-intestinal, infectious disease, rheumatological, and other organ systems. Not a science buff? This means that Dr. Kenworthy is your general, primary care physician, responsible for your everyday medical needs and helping ensure that your health is in tip-top shape. However, Dr. Kenworthy’s practice is most concerned with the prevention of serious illness, For example:

It is entirely possible to prevent the great majority of all heart attacks (myocardial infarction). Doctors who focus on preventative medicine are seeing large decreases in the number of patients who suffer heart attacks within their practice. Aggressive treatment of diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia can eliminate or reduce risk for heart disease. This emphasis on prevention has been the focus of Dr. Kenworthy’s practice for decades, proving that effective life-style changes significantly reduce coronary plaque as evidenced by sequential angiogram studies. Without any medications, exercise and diet alone have been found to reduce atherosclerotic plaque by as much as 30% over 3 years.

Another example is colon cancer. Aside from extremely rare cases, this form of cancer is a totally preventable illness. Polyp removal is curative in almost all cases, hence the value of periodic colonoscopy. A low fat diet is paramount in preventing this unfortunately very common tumor, the most common carcinogenic precursor originating in our own bile salts, whose secretion are stimulated by dietary fat.

Preventative medicine also involves annual and frequent (depending on risk) full body skin checks, routine regular blood exams looking for unusual elevations in liver enzymes, protein levels, evaluating unexplained blood in the urine, and ensuring that estrogen and testosterone levels are appropriate for bone and sexual health.

In short, internal medicine aims at providing your body with the best care possible focusing on your specific needs and expectations.