32
COM Outlook . Winter 2014
Busy
Times
for
1988
Alumnus
Dr.
Tyler
Cymet
ometimes, life throws us an interesting curveball
when we least expect it. Such was the case for Tyler
Cymet, D.O., FACP, FACOFP, a 1988 alumnus who
was out for an innocuous morning jog in Chakraseca, Nica-
ragua, while he was in the area researching an opportunity
to establish a DOCARE international clinic.
As he jogged past a local teaching hospital, Dr. Cymet,
who serves as associate vice president for medical educa-
tion and chief of clinical education for the American As-
sociation of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM),
decided to stop and inquire about the facility. “I asked the
hospital guard if I could look around, and after learning
that I spoke English, I was brought to a patient that spoke
only English and asked to translate the sentence ‘You are
okay; the problem is muscle spasm.’ I offered to perform
OMM on the patient, but once I began manipulation, she
passed out from the pain.”
Realizing the patient was suffering from
something much more severe than a simple
muscle spasm, Dr. Cymet requested to see
her X-ray, which indicated the woman had
experienced a transverse process fracture.
Although the attending physician disagreed
with Dr. Cymet’s diagnosis and said the
radiologist’s reading was normal, he agreed
to do additional imaging. “These later
images confirmed the fracture,” said Dr.
Cymet of the injury, which occurred while
the patient was indulging in a very risky
activity called volcano boarding.
In addition to correctly diagnosing the
patient’s injury, Dr. Cymet helped get the woman airlifted
to her hometown in Australia. The experience also spurred
him to coauthor an article entitled “Fracture as a Result of
Volcano Boarding” that was published in the September
2013 issue of
The AAO Journal
—the official publication of
the American Academy of Osteopathy.
“Sliding over porous, sharp rocks is a unique experi-
ence,” said Dr. Cymet of the dangerous sporting endeavor.
“The volcanic material lets a person generate some speed,
making the sport exciting, but most participants leave
with some cuts and bruises; injuries comparable to those
S
commonly associated with mountain biking or toboggan-
ing. While it is said to be exhilarating, volcano surfing is
banned in Guatemala and other Central American coun-
ties, mainly because there is a desire to have tourists leave
through the duty free shop—and not be airlifted out.”
Another highlight of Dr. Cymet’s action-packed 2013
occurred on October 6 when he was featured on an epi-
sode of the TV program
Untold Stories of the ER
, which
airs on Discovery Fit & Health. “When I started working
at AACOM, I spoke with people at the Discovery Net-
work and offered to assist them with medical stories,”
he explained. “For the past few years, I have been shar-
ing stories from faculty members at osteopathic medical
schools, with the goal of getting the stories produced by
the network. After several years of recommending others,
I finally agreed to appear as the physician in one of the
three osteopathic stories featured.”
According to Dr. Cymet, the episode,
entitled “A Broken Heart from a Broken
Heart,” was initially pitched as the story
of a woman whose grief overtook her and
almost killed her—a classic somatovisceral
condition. “I initially saw the woman as an
outpatient and watched as she deteriorated
over a week’s time before finally admitting
her to the hospital for depression and what
is called Takotsubo syndrome,” he said.
“The initial EKG screening showed that her
depression was having some pretty severe
effects on her heart.
“Takotsubo, or octopus pot heart, is a car-
diomyopathy, which refers to diseases of the heart muscle,”
he explained. “Treatment is supportive and focuses mostly
on fluid management while addressing the underlying
depression that put the whole case in motion. As long as you
keep the patient alive, the heart will get better on its own.”
Reenacting the case for the sake of television proved to
be an interesting experience for Dr. Cymet. “I enjoyed the
challenge and overall experience of ‘reality acting’ and at-
tempting to portray myself on television,” he admitted.
Nonetheless, don’t expect to see Dr. Cymet trade in his
stethoscope for an acting career anytime soon.
By Scott Colton, B.A., APR, COM/HPD Director of
Medical Communications and Public Relations
Volanco boarding has become
an increasingly popular—and
dangerous—activity.
