2008

Learn more about the surgeons of Columbia University Medical Center by viewing clips of recent news coverage, referencing their contributions to the professional literature, noting awards they've received, and reading the consumer and professional newsletters published by the Department of Surgery.

Dr. Sheldon Feldman Appointed Chief of Breast Surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.

A leading authority in minimally invasive breast cancer surgery and cancer prevention, Dr. Feldman previously served as chief of the comprehensive breast service at Beth Israel Medical Center and was professor of clinical surgery at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Feldman was instrumental in developing the transmammary axillary lymph node evaluation (TANE) procedure, which requires only a single incision for lumpectomy and sentinel lymph node biopsy. He is also an expert in oncoplastic skin-sparing and nipple-preserving mastectomy.

Read the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital press release.

Second Annual NOTES Course

The second annual NewYork-Presbyterian NOTES course drew close to 200 health professionals representing 20 states and 20 countries and five continents. The ACCME-accredited event took place Dec. 15 and 16 at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and Rockefeller University. The annual conference focuses on natural orifice endoscopic and translumenal techniques, often referred to collectively as scarless surgery. The course was led by surgeons and physicians from Columbia University and Weill Cornell medical centers, including Columbia's Marc Bessler, MD and Peter Stevens, MD, who performed one of the first scarless gallbladder removals during 2008 and pioneered a laparoscopic-camera-assisted version of the procedure during 2007. Use of the procedure is being expanded to include weigh loss surgery and abdominal operations including appendectomy.

Liver Transplant Milestone Celebrated

For the celebration of the center's 1000th liver transplant, clinical and administrative staff folded 1000 origami paper cranes.

Transplant recipients, donors and their families reunited with the NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia liver transplantation team on Dec. 15, 2008, to celebrate surpassing the milestone of 1,000 successful transplants. Present for the event were Drs. Jean Emond and Robert Brown; clinical director Dianne Lapoint-Rudow, DNP, Elaine Berg from the New York Organ Donor Network; and several transplant recipients, who spoke about their experiences.

WABC-TV and WCBS Radio both interviewed Dr. Emond, who discussed how advances like living organ transplantation have helped save lives. ABCNews.com and HealthNewsDigest.com also reported on the event.

Read the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital press release.

Dr. Miglietta Covers Hofstra Debate

Maurizio Miglietta, DO

Chief of Acute Care Surgery, Maurizio Miglietta, DO, was the official physician-on-site for the McCain-Obama debate at Hofstra University that took place October 15, 2008. Dr. Miglietta is founder and director of the Homeland Security Mobile Trauma Unit, an all-volunteer group of physicians and paramedics supporting federal law enforcement. It is the only mobile trauma unit in New York City. During the debate at Hofstra, the unit had a team on site ready to respond to any major surgical emergencies that might arise. Dr. Miglietta is well known in the U.S. national law enforcement community, which frequently summons his unit to cover dignitaries at New York City-based events.

Care Options Expand in Combined Pulmonary Care Facility

With the establishing of the Cecily and Robert Harris Pulmonary Diagnostic Center in 2007 and additional support from the Harris family during 2008, pulmonary specialties at NYP/Columbia consolidated evaluation, diagnostic, rehabilitation, and clinical consultation services into one suite and added sophisticated equipment and research capabilities. The latest addition to this full-service pulmonary facility is an opto-electronic plethysmography (OEP) system.

Acute care surgery

New surgical division provides superior accessibility and safety.

Maurizio Miglietta, DO, Tracey Arnell, MD, and colleagues treating patients in the new Division of Acute Care Surgery.

To ensure the best care possible for patients who require immediate surgery due to acute surgical problems or trauma, the Department of Surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center has established a new Division of Acute Care Surgery. One of the first such divisions in the nation, and the first in the New York metropolitan area, the division and the clinicians on its staff are devoted exclusively to performing emergency general surgery, trauma surgery, and surgical critical care.

Columbia Surgeons Perform New Incision-Free Weight Loss Surgery

Offered as Part of Ongoing TOGA Pivotal Trial, Surgery Is Performed Completely Through the Mouth

Marc Bessler, MD

Daniel G. Davis, DO

A NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia patient was the first in the New York City area to receive incision-free surgery for obesity. The surgery took place during August, 2008 as part of the ongoing multicenter TOGA Pivotal Trial at NYP/Columbia. Drs. Marc Bessler and Daniel Davis performed the TOGA Procedure (for "transoral gastroplasty"), which, like other obesity procedures, is designed to alter the patient's stomach anatomy to give them a feeling of fullness after a small meal. The difference is that TOGA was performed under direct endoscopic visualization with specialized instruments passed into the stomach through the mouth without any incisions.

2008 Wings of Hope for Melanoma Gala to Honor Dr. Kaufman

The gala, which takes place on Thursday, October 2, 2008, is held by the Melanoma Research Foundation.

Natural-Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) Takes Next Step as Gallbladder Is Removed Through Uterus

Marc Bessler, MD

NEW YORK (Jul 28, 2008) In April of last year, surgeons at
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center made headlines by removing a women's gallbladder through her uterus using a flexible endoscope, aided by several external incisions for added visibility. Now, they have performed the same procedure without a single external incision in what surgeons report may be the first surgery of its kind in the United States. Led by Marc Bessler, MD, the procedure is offered as part of an ongoing clinical research trial and could prove to have advantages over traditional endoscopic surgery, including reduced pain , quicker recovery time and absence of visible scarring.

Read the NYP press release.

Altruistic Donor Makes NYC's First 4-Way Kidney Transplant Possible

Lloyd Ratner, MD

On July 24, 2008, Dr. Lloyd Ratner led a 4-way kidney swap involving nearly 50 clinicians and eight operating rooms. The swap, believed to be the largest yet performed in the city, took an entire day. It was made possible by kidney donor Anthony DeGiulio, a 32-year-old securities trader from Red Hook, whose donation of his kidney made possible the chain of four transplants.

Read the NYP press release.

Columbia/NYP Lung Cancer Trial Targets Asbestos-Related Disease

NEW YORK (Jun 26, 2008) The Mesothelioma Center within the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center is now recruiting patients for a clinical research study of a new targeted radiation and chemotherapy protocol for pleural mesothelioma, a cancer of the lung's lining that is almost always caused by previous exposure to asbestos. Co-investigators include Drs. Joshua Sonett, Mark Ginsberg, and Lyall Gorenstein.

Read the NYP press release. The release was picked up by Health Day News, in addition to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Austin-American Statesman, U.S. News & World Report, Forbes.Com, Health Central.Com, and Washington Post.com.

NewYork-Presbyterian Ranks #1 in NYC Metro Area and 6th in the Nation in U.S. News' 2008 Edition of America's Best Hospitals

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where Columbia University Department of Surgery faculty operate, ranks first in the New York City metropolitan area and sixth in the nation, according to U.S. News Media Group's 2008 edition of America's Best Hospitals.

Humanitarian Mission: Pediatric Cardiac Surgery

Helping a Well-Developed Chinese Program Take the Next Steps

Jonathan Chen, MD, who has led a Columbia/NYP-based pediatric cardiac surgery team abroad for the past three years, traveled to China in May 2008 to perform surgeries and train local surgeons at the Jilin Heart Hospital in the city of Chang Chun. The team's goal was to transmit knowledge of newer procedures to surgeons at Jilin who, although they were performing three hundred cardiac cases per year, did not have access to training for state-of-the-art procedures.

Read about the 2007 trip to Senegal.
Read about the 2006 trip to Cambodia.

Dr. McKinsey Leads First NY Fenestrated Endograft Surgery, Saving 93-Year Old

In a New York City metro-area first, a 93-year-old Bronx man underwent implantation of a new stent graft. The three-hour procedure was performed under local anesthesia on July 1, 2008 at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center as part of an ongoing FDA-sanctioned clinical trial at three national sites (including NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center). The fenestrated endograft was placed through a small incision in the groin, into the patient's arteries replacing the enlarged blood vessel and allowing for the safe passage of blood to the lower extremities. "Since most of these patients are aged 70 and older, often with medical complications, open surgery is usually not an option. This new stent graft can give these patients a new lease on life," said Dr. James F. McKinsey, who led the surgical team.

NYP Gets Top Marks in U.S. for Pediatric Cardiac Surgery

The 2008 U.S.News & World Report "America's Best Children's Hospitals" issue ranked Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center among the top 10 in pediatric heart surgery, together with its sister institution, the Komansky Center for Children's Health at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Columbia Surgeons are New York Magazine 2008 Top Doctors

Sixteen Columbia surgeons have been selected as New York magazine's "New York Best Doctors 2008" in the magazine's June 8, 2008 issue:

Michael Argenziano, MD Marc Bessler, MD John A. Chabot, MD Jonathan M. Chen, MD Jean C. Emond, MD Dennis Fowler, MD Howard L. Kaufman, MD K. Craig Kent, MD

Yoshifumi Naka, MD, PhD Mehmet C. Oz, MD Jan Quaegebeur, MD Craig Smith, MD Joshua Sonett, MD Charles Stolar, MD Richard L. Whelan, MD Jeffrey Zitsman, MD

Mobile Trauma Unit Supports 2008 Papal Visit

Chief of Acute Care Surgery, Maurizio Miglietta, DO, and his mobile trauma unit (MTU) had papal duty this year, traveling with Benedict XVI throughout his visit to the city April 18-21.

Surgeons Devise a Creative Solution to Sustain Children with Heart Failure

Within the walls of the pediatric heart transplant program at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, incredible things are happening. Just this year, surgeons devised a way to adapt the CentriMag^®, an adult heart pump, so that they could implant smaller versions in four young children with acute heart failure. The tiny devices were used to keep these children, ages 3-10 years, healthy until they were able to receive a heart transplant. Three of the four were able to receive successful transplants.

First Lung Transplant at MSCHONY

Joshua R. Sonett, MD

We are proud to announce the first pediatric lung transplant performed entirely at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital. Previously, it was necessary for children to visit the Milstein Hospital Building at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center for the surgery and post-operative care. This milestone was made possible by interdisciplinary collaboration, including the support of the adult lung transplant team, as well as by resources available through the newly opened Laura Rothenberg Bronchoscopy-Endoscopy Center. Thanks to these advances, our pediatric lung patients can now expect the very best care available in the comforting and convenient setting of Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital.

Drs. Schmidt, Ramasamy and Yan Awarded $8M NIA Grant to Investigate Biology of Aging

Ann Marie Schmidt, MD

The Division of Surgical Science in the Department of Surgery of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, which has been studying the biological pathways of degeneration in the human body for nearly 15 years, has recently received more than $8M from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to study age-related cardiovascular disease.