• Detailed history and physical exam
• Cardiovascular risk assessment
• Patient education and counseling
• Formulation of treatment plan including conservative and surgical methods

• Comprehensive vascular lab within our clinic setting with the ability to offer same day/add-on studies
• Ultrasounds including:
  
  • Carotid, hemodialysis access, extremity vein mapping, arterial/venous, AAA, mesenteric/renal, ankle-brachial index, and segmental pressures 

• Open and Endovascular Aneurysm Repair 
• Carotid Endarterectomy, Carotid Stenting, Transcarotid Artery Revascularization (TCAR)
• Chronic Aortic Occlusions 
• Hemodialysis Access (Arteriovenous Fistula, Arteriovenous Graft)
• Endovascular Embolization
• Decompression of Celiac Artery Compression Syndrome
• First Rib Resection, Pectoralis Minor Release 
• Wound Debridement
• Extremity Amputations
• Visceral Artery (Mesenteric, Renal) Bypasses

• Longitudinal Follow-Up Care

At Texas Health Vascular Surgical Specialists, we understand you want to have your office visit run as smoothly as possible. To help facilitate this process, we have provided our new patient forms here for you to download and complete before your first visit.

Simply click on the links below to download. Print, complete, and bring the forms to your appointment. In order to protect your privacy, please do not e-mail forms.

• New Patient Registration Form: English
• Authorization for Release of Patient Information: English

We believe in making it easy for our patients to focus on their treatment and regaining good health. Texas Health Vascular Surgical Specialists accepts a wide range of insurance plans and various forms of payment, and will verify benefits prior to your appointment. Please call us at 817-767-4248 if you have any questions.

In order to use the payment portal to pay your bill, please have your statement and billing information readily accessible. For question or payments by phone, call us at 800-890-6034.

Patients of Dr. Charles West

Nurse’s Health Journey Leads to Fort Worth Vascular Surgeon

As a nurse, Jennifer McGee is trained to notice when something isn’t quite right with someone’s health. So when she began experiencing health problems of her own, she knew she needed to speak up. The problem was finding a physician with the expertise to make an accurate diagnosis and follow through with the right treatment plan.

Jennifer’s health journey began with a dental visit to get a wisdom tooth pulled. After the procedure, she was left with lingering jaw pain. She was told she had TMJ, a type of temporomandibular joint disorder that can cause pain around the jaw and check bones and in the muscles that control jaw movement.

A TMJ doctor gave her injections in her neck, which provided some temporary relief. But when Jennifer also started experiencing weakness in her right arm, she was referred to a physical therapist.

Twice-weekly therapy sessions brought on headaches, which caused her right eye to close for no apparent reason. “I started having chest pain on top of all this, but I knew I wasn’t having a stroke,” Jennifer says. “First, I thought maybe the breast cancer I had overcome nearly a decade ago had returned. I later suggested to the therapist that it might be thoracic outlet syndrome after I researched my symptoms.”

Therapy was stopped and Jennifer was referred on to a neurologist, who did imaging tests of her spine, head and other areas. The results came back fine but the physician recommended she see a vascular surgeon. An online search led the Azle resident to vascular surgeon Charles West Jr., M.D., at Texas Health Vascular Surgical Specialists in Fort Worth.

West ordered an electromyography (EMG) nerve conduction study to measure the electrical activity of the nerves in Jennifer’s body. The testing showed there was little activity on the right side of her body in comparison to her left. West then made the diagnosis that Jennifer had waited a year and a half to hear — the one she had suspected for quite some time.

It was neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS), a common form of the compression disorder that can develop when the nerves or blood vessels just below the neck become compressed. Because the nerves and blood vessels that supply the arms are in this space, individuals who suffer from neurogenic TOS often experience thoracic pain, numbness or tingling in an upper extremity and/or headaches.

Moving Forward after a Diagnosis

Physical therapy is typically the first course of treatment for TOS, along with medication. But because Jennifer had been in so much pain for so long, she was ready to move beyond non-surgical care.

“Dr. West tried to show me everything that was going on with my body but being a nurse, I was well aware,” Jennifer says. “At that point, I was so miserable that I was just ready for surgery.”

“There was a lot of inflammation and Jennifer had veins, arteries and nerves that had become fused together,” West explains. “There really wasn’t a good way to relieve her symptoms without decompression surgery to clean up and separate everything.”

During surgery, West also performed an advanced first rib resection to prevent the bones in Jennifer’s upper chest from impinging on the nerves to her right arm. The innovative technique involves removing the first cervical rib and releasing the muscle that joins the neck and chest to help relieve nerve compression and improve mobility.

It’s been five months since the 52-year-old underwent surgery and although she admits that her mobility isn’t yet back to 100 percent, she is now able to lift her right arm above her head again. “Before, I had resorted to working a virtual job because I was in such severe pain. I can go out now. Dr. West says it may take a year for all the numbness and finger pain to resolve, but I am hopeful.”

When asked if she has any advice to offer others who may be struggling with unresolved pain, Jennifer replies: “Know that you’re not crazy; there is something going on so keep fighting to get answers and find someone who will listen.”

Find a cardiovascular specialist who can assist with your heart and vascular health.

Mississippi Woman Finds Advanced Care in the Heart of Texas

The celiac and mesenteric arteries help supply blood to the abdominal cavity and its organs, including the spleen, gallbladder, liver, pancreas and small intestine. When one or both of these arteries becomes partially or fully blocked, the situation can turn serious.

Like many people, Mississippi resident Ivanee Raybourn took her vascular health rather for granted. She didn’t much think about what might be going on in her arteries, as she didn’t have any symptoms that were cause for alarm. Then the 72-year-old started feeling ill and her stomach would hurt every time she ate. She muddled through the discomfort for about three years before deciding it was time to visit with a doctor.

Ivanee’s primary physician was unable to pinpoint any issues, so she sought medical help from a physician in a neighboring Mississippi town. There, the doctor delivered the grim news that she had chronic mesenteric ischemia, giving her just three to six months to live. He also told her she needed to be under the care of a cardiology specialist. No such doctors were available nearby.

“I thought to myself: I’ve got to give this to a higher power, and I’ve got to hold myself together,” she recalls. “My husband and I had just bought a home in Mississippi after moving from Louisiana and we really didn’t know the area. I took it upon myself to get on my phone and search all over the U.S. for a doctor who could treat me.”

During her search, Ivanee found Charles West Jr., M.D., a vascular surgeon at Texas Health Vascular Surgical Specialists in Fort Worth. Over the course of several days, she and her husband made the drive to Louisiana to get her medical records and then headed straight to Fort Worth to meet with West.

In Texas, Ivanee finally got the answers to the diagnosis that she needed to move forward. West had discovered blockages in both Ivanee’s celiac and mesenteric arteries, leading to intestinal ischemia. Intestinal ischemia is a serious condition that occurs when blood flow to the intestines decreases. It can cause pain and make it difficult for the digestive system to work properly. In severe cases, loss of blood flow to the intestines can damage intestinal tissue and possibly lead to death.

Although the diagnosis was a scary one for Ivanee, she says it was also a blessing. “I basically had no blood flow from my breasts down. I had no quality of life. My body was wasting, and I knew I was dying. Dr. West said he would do all he could to fix it.”

Ivanee was scheduled for a complex surgical procedure known as an aortic mesenteric bypass. “Dr. West was very detailed about what the surgery would involve and made it clear that it was high risk. I felt like he had it, that God would guide him through the procedure,” she adds.

During the procedure, an alternate route was created to allow blood to flow from Ivanee’s aorta, the body’s largest artery, to the mesenteric artery to improve her intestinal health. This involved performing grafts on the celiac artery, mesenteric artery and aorta and removing damaged tissue from her intestines.

“Chronic mesenteric ischemia is a debilitating condition that results in a downward spiral of weight loss, nutritional deterioration and death,” West explains. “It’s one of the few diseases in vascular surgery where treatment provides marked improvement in long-term survival and quality of life.”

The Road to Recovery

The day after surgery, Ivanee was up and standing for several minutes. A few days later, she was able to give herself a shower. She spent 18 days recovering at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth before being able to go home.

Now, some five years later, Ivanee and her husband make the drive to Fort Worth every six months to see West. She says she doesn’t mind making the 500-mile trip, that it’s rather a pleasure.

“I know that I’m fine. Dr. West is a very caring and concerned doctor who has given meaning to my life. I feel like I’m in my 50s. My husband and I are living our lives to the fullest thanks to Dr. West,” Ivanee says.

To learn more about your vascular health, or to find a heart and vascular specialist for advanced care, visit TexasHealth.org.

Sheree Gets the Right Care Across the Miles

Sheree Stanley is no stranger to health issues. The Huntsville, Texas resident has lived with high blood pressure for years and battled leg vein calcifications, a condition that causes “plaque” from calcium, fats and cholesterol to build up in the inner walls of the blood vessels in the legs. The result is artherosclerosis, or a hardening of the arteries and restricted blood flow.

For Sheree, having vein calcifications has meant undergoing stent surgery to remove the plaque deposits and restore healthy blood circulation to her legs. She first underwent the procedure years ago under the guidance of Charles West, M.D., who, at the time, was a practicing vascular surgeon in Houston.

In 2017, Sheree was again experiencing pain in her legs due to calcification. The pain became so bad that, at times, she would have to get up in the middle of the night and walk. The activity provided some relief until she started getting a burning sensation in her groin after rising.

With Dr. West no longer located in Houston, Sheree sought the medical advice of another surgeon, who ultimately recommended a second stent procedure. The surgery was unsuccessful and left Sheree looking for an alternative solution. She reached out to Dr. West, now at Cardiac, Vascular & Thoracic Surgical Associates of Fort Worth, Texas Health Physicians Group practice.

“I realized that Dr. West was miles away, but I valued his expertise,” Sheree recalls. “I made the decision to come to the Dallas-Fort Worth area with little delay because I trusted he would provide the proper treatment and care.”

Once in Fort Worth, the 60-year-old learned that she would require an aortobifemoral bypass to remove calcium deposits that had built up around her abdominal aorta, as opposed to her leg veins.

“All arteries in the body can develop calcification, the heart and peripheral blood vessels are not immune,” Dr. West explains. “Aortobifemoral bypass surgery is done to replace a blocked aorta, the blood vessel that carries the main blood supply and oxygen to the body, from the abdomen and groin into both legs. In Sheree’s case, her calcified abdominal aorta was the reason for the leg pain and burning sensation she was experiencing.”

During the six-hour minimally invasive surgery, Dr. West bypassed Sheree’s blocked aorta to redirect blood flow through a graft made of synthetic material. Sheree remained in the hospital for just four days following the surgery. With blood flow restored and her leg muscles no longer starved for oxygen, they were able to work without pain.

“Most patients who undergo aortobifemoral bypass report nearly instant relief and immediate improvement in quality of life,” Dr. West adds.

Sheree now makes the three-and-a-half-hour drive to Fort Worth once a year for an in-office vascular ultrasound. It’s a drive she is happy to make.

“Surgery was a life-changer for me,” she says. “I can do anything now―walk forever, sleep soundly. I have given up smoking, and I am so grateful for Dr. West. He is an exceptional doctor with a gift for diagnosis. I couldn’t ask for a better surgeon!”

Providers employed by Texas Health Physicians Group practice independently and are not employees or agents of Texas Health Resources hospitals.

Dr. West on WFAA's Good Morning Texas