Dr. Peter Tang is Assistant Professor
of Orthopedic Surgery at the Columbia University College of Physicians
& Surgeons and Assistant Attending of New York-Presbyterian
Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. He began his
career graduating cum laude from Harvard College. He then
graduated from Weill Medical College of Cornell University with
Honors in Research. During his medical school training,
he also pursued a Masters in Public Health at the Harvard School
of Public Health while also performing orthopedic oncology research
at the Harvard teaching hospital Massachusetts General Hospital
with the world-renown Dr. Henry J. Mankin.
He then underwent his orthopedic training at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center under the guidance of Dr. Freddie H. Fu. He spent one year in the Musculoskeletal Research Center dedicated to orthopedic research, working on improving ligament healing and surgical reconstructions. After his residency, he gained valuable experience as orthopedic faculty at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center where he managed complex upper and lower extremity trauma while covering emergency call at this Level 1 Trauma Center. Finally, he specialized in hand, upper extremity, and microvascular surgery by undertaking a hand fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center under the guidance of Dr. Joseph E. Imbriglia.
His clinical interests and expertise include all problems of the finger, hand, wrist, forearm and elbow. This includes:
- nerve problems such as carpal and cubital tunnel syndrome which leads to hand and finger numbness,
- tendonitis such as trigger finger, DeQuervain’s disease, and tennis/golfer’s elbow,
- tendon ruptures and lacerations such as biceps ruptures and flexor/extensor tendon lacerations,
- finger and wrist lacerations that could involve nerve, vessel or tendon injury
- masses such as ganglions and mucous cysts,
- ligament injuries such as thumb ulnar collateral ligament injury (gamekeeper’s thumb) and scapholunate ligament injury,
- cartilage injuries such as triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) injury,
- and arthritic conditions which leads to pain at the finger joints and base of the thumb (thumb carpometacarpal (CMC) arthritis), at the wrist (radiocarpal arthritis), and elbow.
In addition to fractures and nonunions of the upper extremity including finger, carpal bone (scaphoid/navicular), wrist (distal radius), forearm (radius and ulna), elbow (radial head, coranoid, olecranon, distal humerus), and arm (humerus), he also maintains an interest in fracture care of the lower extremity including the hip, femur, knee, and leg (tibia).
Many conditions can be treated conservatively with physical therapy, splinting, casting, and/or injections. When these options have been exhausted, surgical options can be explored. In other conditions, surgery provides the best outcome so that option will be recommended. In terms of surgery, Dr. Tang is experienced in nerve decompression and repair, tendon repair and transfer, mass excision, ligament repair and reconstruction, finger, wrist, and elbow arthroscopy, arthritis reconstruction and joint replacement, upper extremity fracture and nonunion care, microvascular surgery that allows finger and extremity replantation and free flap reconstruction for complex soft tissue and bony defects.
Dr. Tang is actively involved in the training of medical students, residents and fellows.
In terms of research, he is interested in performing research that furthers medical knowledge to the benefit of patient care. Over the last several years, he has been performing research on cadaver forearms to elucidate the biomechanics of some of our most common wrist procedures for arthritis including proximal row carpectomy. His research entitled, “Contact Biomechanics of the Intact and Proximal Row Carpectomy Wrist” won Best Senior Research Project at the University of Pittsburgh Orthopedic Residency Research Day. He has presented at several national meetings and will be presenting this research in September of 2007 at the 25th American Society of Surgery of the Hand (ASSH) in Seattle, WA.
Dr. Tang’s approach
to patient care is based on the original definition of the word
“doctor” which means “to teach.”
He believes that his role as a physician is “to teach”
the patient about their condition including its cause, prognosis
and treatment options. By providing the patient with this
information on the condition, as well as its various treatment
options, he hopes to educate the patient and help them make an
informed decision about how they want to treat their problem based
on their lifestyle, goals and what is important to them.
This education of the patient makes the patient an active member
of the health care team. Dr. Tang is fully dedicated to each of
his patients and the field of hand surgery and orthopedics.
He is committed to providing the highest level, evidence-based
care supported by the latest research studies and literature.
Dr. Tang will begin seeing patients in August of 2007 at the East 60th St. office, the Englewood New Jersey office, the Irving Pavilion on the Columbia Presbyterian main campus and the Allen Pavilion.
