Doctor to Use Skills in Salute to Heritage

Usually when the doctor isn’t in for two weeks, he or she is vacationing in a tropical resort or brushing up on the golf swing. Not Dr. Garo Tertzakian, an Orange County urologist who is heading for Armenia Wednesday, taking along 700 pounds of surgical equipment to teach physicians there advanced techniques in prostate surgery.

“If I had to look at the financial aspect, I would never do it,” said Tertzakian, who estimates that the trip is costing him $30,000. In addition, thousands of dollars in supplies have been donated by several Orange County hospitals. “I’m doing it for the personal satisfaction, and I am honored to be selected to do this in my ancestral homeland.”

The 37-year-old doctor and UC Irvine professor is the third Armenian-American physician to participate in a medical assistance program with the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia started two years ago by a Glendale orthopedic surgeon and his wife.

As the guest of the chief urologist in Yerevan, Armenia’s capital city, Tertzakian says, he will perform about 40 prostate operations as well as lecture physicians and medical students about transurethral prostatectomy--the same operation President Reagan underwent earlier this year for an enlarged prostate gland.

A Common Surgery

The operation, one of the most common surgeries for older men, is still performed in Armenia as regular surgery, which involves an incision and, therefore, produces substantial bleeding and lengthier hospital stays, according to Tertzakian.

The technique American physicians use is less stressful for the body, Tertzakian says, because no incision is made through the skin. Instead, using a spinal anesthetic to numb the lower body, a tubular instrument called a resectoscope is inserted through the penis, up to the urethra. The instrument has an electric loop on the end that cuts out the enlarged tissue and widens the channel.

To get ready for his trip, Tertzakian says, he has been “running around to Radio Shack to buy transformers and adapters,” haunted by the tale of a colleague who went on a similar medical expedition to Thailand, but wound up sightseeing because a 25-cent fuse blew in the equipment he had brought and it couldn’t be fixed.

“I’ve put this together single-handedly for the last six months, worrying constantly about every nut and bolt,” Tertzakian said. “I’m having all these nightmares about big smoke coming out in the middle of the operating room.”

An Emotional Visit

Apart from sharing his medical expertise with the Armenians, Tertzakian says, the visit will be an emotional one for him, his wife, Sylvie, and their two children.

“This is one way to pay back some kind of gratitude to those people who have stayed behind and suffered and struggled to build a country,” he said. “Being of Armenian origin, I have always had the dream to go back and see where my ancestors have lived.”

Mary Najarian, whose husband, Dr. Vartkes Najarian, was the first doctor to volunteer his surgical skills to Armenia in 1985, says she suggested Tertzakian to medical officials after hearing about his work in Orange County.

Tertzakian is a graduate of American University in Beirut and received his urological training at UC Irvine, where he teaches and is involved in the kidney transplant program.