Background: A patient’s motivation for consulting a physician is paramount to the first steps of achieving an early diagnosis of hereditary angioedema (HAE). Understanding what triggers this motivation can help in the design of strategies to increase the number of visits to a specialist physician following early symptoms of HAE. The aim of the present study was to identify the reasons that led patients to seek the opinion of an HAE expert physician.

Background: A patient’s motivation for consulting a physician is paramount to the first steps of achieving an early diagnosis of hereditary angioedema (HAE). Understanding what triggers this motivation can help in the design of strategies to increase the number of visits to a specialist physician following early symptoms of HAE. The aim of the present study was to identify the reasons that led patients to seek the opinion of an HAE expert physician.

In our series of unsung or forgotten medical heroes, we first published a manuscript on Alvin Blunt, Jr, M.D. who was the first African American MASH physician in the Korean War. Dr. Kenneth L. Wilson’s manuscript changed United States military history. Our second manuscript in our series, Medical Miracle in Indianola, Mississippi: The Untold Story of Dr. Clinton Battle and the Indianola Conjoined Siamese Twins, introduces the world to a 29-year-old physician who vaginally delivered the first set of conjoined twins to be successfully separated and both survived the operation. This great feat was done at Rev. John and Missouri Matthews’ home without anesthetics or ultrasound. Dr. Battle died dejected because he never received any credit for this magnificent accomplishment in medical history. In this manuscript, we present the compelling story of Dr. Colonel Vance Marchbanks, who monitored astronaut John Glen during his historic space flight. Dr. Marchbanks was a pioneer Flight Surgeon who developed an oxygen delivery system that enabled flight crews to fly at higher altitudes.