Surgeons In the News 2008

• On December 15, 2008, WABC-TV Eyewitness News Channel 7 profiled a living donor liver transplant performed at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia on November 4, 2008. José was dying of liver disease and received a living donor liver transplant from his wife, Debra. The surgeons removed about 60 percent of her liver, which they implanted in José's body. The technique is possible because the liver is able to regenerate. "The organ that is donated will grow back rapidly in six to 12 weeks, and the part placed in the new body also grows quickly," said Dr. Emond.
• On November 14, 2008, Dr. Jonathan Chen commented for a WABC-TV news segment on a study published in the Nov. 7 issue of Circulation that said pediatric heart surgeons may be best for treating certain adult heart conditions.
• On October 27, 2008, CNNMoney.com ran a press release from the device manufacturer Cardima, Inc., which announced the establishment of Cardima's Surgical Ablation Training Program and Center of Excellence at Stamford Hospital in Stamford, Connecticut. Dr. Li Poa, Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Cardiac Surgery Program Director at Stamford Hospital and a faculty member of Columbia University, will head the Cardima Center of Excellence Program at Stamford Hospital. He has conducted extensive work perfecting thorascopic surgical techniques, and will train cardiothoracic surgeons on using the Cardima Surgical Ablation System.
• On October 26, 2008 Dr. Nicholas Morrissey was interviewed on ABC/7 Eye Witness News at 5 for a segment about deep vein thrombosis. "Flights longer than six hours are when you are at higher risk for blood clots," he said. "The best thing to do on any long haul flight is get up and walk around at least two or three times."
• The October 20, 2008 New York Times featured a scarless stomach-stapling operation performed by Drs. Marc Bessler and Daniel Davis. The surgeons stapled the patient's stomach from the inside, using instruments passed through her mouth and esophagus. The article, which appeared on the front page of the newspaper's "Science Times" section, was the first in a series of articles planned to check on weight-loss progress of the patient, Karleen Perez.
• Dr. Marc Bessler and one of his patients, Awilda Sanchez, a respiratory therapist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, were featured in an October 1, 2008 U.S. News & World Report article about natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES). The story, which was also featured on the home page of the magazine's Web site, explained how the surgery limits pain and speeds recovery. In the case of Ms. Sanchez, there were no external scars and she was quoted as saying, "It's like it never happened."
• A comment from Dr. Marc Bessler appeared in a September 21, 2008 Washington Post article about scarless surgery and its safety for patients. "If it proves to be risky, which I don't think it will be, or of limited benefit, then we'll stop doing it," he said. "So far it doesn't seem to be risky, the patients definitely have a cosmetic benefit, recovery seems to be better, and they seem to have less pain."
• A Women's Sexual Health Foundation press release published on Medical News Today announced the organization's first Media Award. The award will be given at the foundation's conference, Women's Education: Reclaiming Healthy Intimacy, Passion and Pleasure, on April 4, 2009. The conference is jointly hosted by the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, with management by the Department of Surgery Office of External Affairs Events group.
• An article in the September 15, 2008 The Philadelphia Inquirer regarding questions raised about VP-candidate Sarah Palin taking on too much as a mother of five children noted a study being conducted by Columbia investigators including Christine Hsu Rohde, MD. The Inquirer article's author, Rachel K. Sobel, MD, herself a second-year ophthalmology resident at the Wills Eye Institute at Thomas Jefferson University, noted "The old guard in medicine sometimes views a pregnant doctor or a mommy M.D. as a slacker who won't pull her weight, But I've seen doctor mothers overcompensate and work even harder than others just to prove that perceived sentiment wrong."
• Dr. Rohde was interviewed in a September 1, 2008 The Boston Globe article about female residents and doctors having babies. Dr. Rohde is conducting research on the subject of pregnancy during residency, and has surveyed 4,000 female surgeons of all ages. According responses she has received, some bosses have told pregnant residents to drop out, while others have suggested terminating pregnancies. "One thing that's coming up repeatedly in the survey responses are the interesting and horrifying stories about what they've had to deal with," said Dr. Rohde.
• On August 24, 2008, The Post Standard (Syracuse, NY) ran an article about a Laura Nicholson from Baldwinsville, NY, who participated in the four-way swap performed by the Kidney Transplant Program at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia on July 24, 2008. Her donation of her kidney to a compatible recipient enabled her brother to receive a kidney from another, compatible donor.
• Drs. Marc Bessler and Daniel Davis were featured in an August 26, 2008 Crain's New York Business article about TOGA, a clinical trial of a new incisionless weight loss procedure performed through the mouth. Drs. Bessler and Davis were the first to perform the procedure on a New York patient. New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia is one of several centers participating in the trial. TOGA stands for "transoral gastroplasty," the name of the technique used in the surgery. The story was also covered by Health News Digest and Medical News Today.
  
  Read the NYP press release.
• Dr. Yoshifumi Naka is national co-principal investigator in the DuraHeart Left Ventricular Assist System Bridge-to-Transplant Pivotal Trial for patients awaiting transplant. Reuters, Market Watch, and Medical News Today ran an August 21, 2008 press release from the device manufacturer, Terumo Heart, regarding the first patient implanted with the device. The patient was discharged home on August 14th, from the University of Michigan Health System. The press release was also picked up by the Biloxi Sun Herald.
• During the second week of August, 2008, Dr. Keith Kuenzler appeared as a special guest on a WABCTV Viewpoint segment about pediatric patient Griffen Stone, who was born 20 weeks prematurely at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital (MSCHONY). Griffen received as many as five major surgical procedures to repair his lung, intestines and heart, and stayed a total of more than 100 days in the MSCHONY neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Appearing in the segment with Dr. Kuenzler were a healthy, 17-month-old Griffin and his parents. The segment highlighted the state-of-the-art NICU and MSCHONY's minimally invasive pediatric surgery program.
• A comment from Jonathan Chen, MD regarding an infant heart transplant study published in the August 14, 2008 NEJM appeared in articles in the August 14 editions of Wall Street Journal and Medicalnewstoday.com.
• On August 12, 2008, Marc Bessler, MD, was interviewed on WABC-TV for a segment about surgeries using the body's natural openings. The segment featured his patient Awilda Sanchez, whose gall bladder was removed through an incision in her uterus and then withdrawn through the vagina. "We go behind the uterus and that muscle doesn't sense pain the same way as the abdominal wall does," said Dr. Bessler. The surgery was also covered by NBC/WFIE-TV.
  
  Read the NYP press release.
• Dr. Benjamin Samstein was mentioned in a Staten Island Advance article regarding a Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital kidney transplant patient. The article was published during the first week of August, 2008.
• The August 5, 2008 New York Daily News featured a recent 4-way kidney swap at NYPH/Columbia, believed to be the largest yet performed in the city. The July 24, 2008 operation, which took an entire day, involved nearly 50 clinicians and eight operating rooms. The swap was also covered in a segment on the August 6, 2008 CBS Channel 2 Early Show. "The average waiting time in the U.S. is three years, and in New York it is in excess of five years," said Dr. Ratner. "We want to utilize any potential donor, and live donor actually gives better results than deceased donor transplants."
  
  Read the NYP press release.
• Dr. Keith Kuenzler> and minimally invasive pediatric surgery at NYPH/Columbia were the subject of a feature on WABC-TV Viewpoint that ran during the week of July 28.
• On July 21, 2008, Health Day News ran a NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (NYP) press release about clinical trial of a new targeted radiation and chemotherapy protocol for pleural mesothelioma being conducted at the Mesothelioma Center within the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Robert Taub, director of the Mesothelioma Center is Principal Investigator and Drs. Joshua Sonett, Rashid Fawwaz, Mark Ginsberg, and Lyall Gorenstein are co-investigators.
  
  The release was picked up by the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Austin-American Statesman, U.S. News & World Report, Forbes.Com, Health Central.Com, and Washington Post.com.
  
  Read the press release.
• On June 28, 2008, United Press International (UPI) reported on NOTES (natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery) gallbladder removal surgery being performed at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia. Marc Bessler, MD, was quoted in the piece, which was based in an NYP press release focusing on a recent NOTES operation in which a woman's gallbladder was removed through her uterus without any external incisions. The UPI article focused on the ongoing NYP/Columbia clinical trial evaluating NOTES procedures. The release was also picked up by The Money Times (India), Medical News Today, Science Daily, and Scientist Live (UK).
  
  Read the NYP press release.
• Dr. Chabot was interviewed for a June 24, 2008, ABC News.com article regarding life expectancy of pancreatic cancer patients in general, and the apparent health of actor Patrick Swayze and Apple CEO Steve Jobs (the article noted that Jobs appears to have lost weight), both of whom have been treated for pancreatic cancer. "Averages don't predict the outcome for any one individual," said Dr. Chabot, who emphasized that overall health, emotional wellbeing and fitness levels may play a role.
• Medical News published a NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital press release about 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 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.
  
  Read the NYP press release.
• Dr. Dennis Fowler provided a comment for a July 10, 2008 Newsday article on a new surgical suite at St. Francis Hospital that uses High-definition technology, saying he expected the technology to become the standard.
• On June 27, 2008, Medical News Today ran an NYP/Columbia University Medical Center press release regarding a clinical trial for a new targeted radiation and chemotherapy regimen for pleural mesothelioma, a cancer of the lung's lining that is almost always caused by previous exposure to asbestos. The standard treatment for pleural mesothelioma is currently surgery to remove the patient's lung — a potentially debilitating consequence. Drs. Sonett, Gorenstein, and Ginsburg are among five co-investigators in the trial.
  Read the NYP press release.
• Dr. Robert Fine was featured in a June 14, 2008 Newsweek magazine feature about the human connection between patients and their oncologists. The article reported on Dr. Fine's relationship with Pancreas Center patient Linda Goodman, 58, who was diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer in 2006. Dr. Fine, utilizing an innovative chemotherapy regimen has been credited for increasing Ms. Goodman's survival by 50% beyond the average prognosis for pancreatic cancer that spreads to the liver, as has Ms. Goodman's. Ms. Goodman praises Dr. Fine's kindness and compassion. The article quotes Dr. Fine as saying, "I want my patients to live their life living. . .I don't want them to liver their life dying."
• Sixteen Columbia surgeons have been selected as New York magazine's "New York Best Doctors 2008" in the magazine's June 8, 2008 issue.
• Dr. Yoshifumi Naka was cited in a May 8, 2008 MIT Technology Review article on a new heart pump device called Synergy, made by the company CircuLite. The implantable pump is the size of an AA battery and may be implanted with a minimally invasive catheterization procedure.
• Dr. Smith was cited in an April 25, 2008 ABC News "Person of the Week" profile of cardiac surgery pioneer Dr. Michael E. DeBakey. Alluding to Dr. DeBakey's ubiquity as a figure in the development of cardiac surgery, Dr. Smith said, "Dr. DeBakey's name is still on the instruments we use every day, on instruments that I used this morning." Recently, at age 99, Dr. DeBakey was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest U.S. civilian honor.
• On May 5, 2008, Medical News Today ran a NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital press release about the April 21, 2008 FDA approval of the HeartMate II LVAS (left ventricular assist system) for use as bridge to transplantation. Heart failure patients at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center were among the first to be implanted with the device. As part of clinical trials leading to approval, 22 patients received the new device at NYPH/Columbia—more than any other hospital in the New York area. "For patients whose hearts are unable to effectively pump blood due to severe heart failure, this remarkable device can help them have active lives as they await a heart transplant," said Dr. Yoshifumi Naka, who is Principal Investigator of the HeartMate II clinical research studies.
  Read the NYP press release.
• Drs. June K. Wu and Christine Hsu Rohde appeared in an April 7 NY1-TV segment about a patient whom the two surgeons treated for arterial venus malformation of the leg. The segment featured a story about the patient’s wish to have his hair cut by his two surgeons and donated to the charity Locks of Love, an organization that gives free hair-pieces to children suffering from medical hair-loss.
• Dr. Ratner was cited in an April 7, 2008 Los Angeles Times article regarding portrayal of kidney disease, dialysis, and the deceased-donor organ waiting list on ABC's documentary program "Men in Trees, A Tale of Two Kidneys," which ran March 26, 2008 at 10 p.m.
• The March 31, 2008 edition of Crain's New York Business ran an article profiling natural orifice endolumenal surgery and Columbia's pioneering use of its scarless techniques. Focusing on the "yuck factor" that has stigmatized the procedures for some, the article highlighted transvaginal cholecystectomy, or the removal of a female patient's gall bladder through her vagina. Drs Marc Bessler and Peter Stevens, performed the first US transvaginal cholecystectomy in April, 2008. Read more.
• On March 27, Fox Business ran a Schering-Plough Corporation press release regarding the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of label revisions for peginterferon alfa-2b and ribavirin, as a combination therapy for chronic hepatitis C. Robert S. Brown Jr., MD, MPH, was co-principal investigator in the study leading to the label revision, WIN-R. The release was picked up by the Biloxi Sun Herald, and CNN/Money.
• Dr. Allan S. Stewart was cited in a March 17, 2008 Health Day News article regarding a recently published study conducted by cardiologists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The study reported five-year results for people given hearts with mild-to-moderate left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH)—a thickening of the heart's main pumping chamber. The study concluded that outcomes of these transplants were comparable to those who received hearts with no problems.
  
  The article was picked up by the Atlanta Journal Constitution, The Austin American Statesman, Forbes.com, Health Central. Com, and U.S. News & World Report.com.
• On March 5, 2008, EarthTimes.org ran an Edwards Lifesciences press release regarding the first human implants of the next generation Edwards transcatheter aortic heart valve. Craig R. Smith, MD, is Co-Principal Investigator for the U.S. PARTNER clinical trial of the transcatheter aortic valve therapy.
• On March 11, 2008, Dr. Nicholas Morrissey was interviewed about the risks of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in a NY1 News All Morning segment. The piece spotlighted a new initiative by the Coalition to Prevent DVT and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital to raise awareness about the disease.
• Articles on pancreatic cancer in the March 4 and March 5, 2008 editions of the Newark Star-Ledger reported on positive results gained from pancreatic cancer chemotherapy protocols created by Robert Fine, MD, director of experimental therapeutics at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, who is an attending oncologist at the Columbia University Pancreas Center.
• On February 15, 2008, Reuters reported on a research investigation led by David Lederer, MD, that compared outcomes for all non-Hispanic black and white patients 40 years or older with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who were placed on the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) list between 1995 and 2004. The research showed that blacks with chronic lung disease on the waiting list for lung transplantation before 2005 were more likely to die or be removed from the list than were white patients and suggested that new guidelines aimed at prioritizing lung transplant candidates based on the expected survival benefit of transplantation may help reverse this trend.
  
  The story was picked up by Healthday News, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Austin American Statesman, the St. Petersburg Times, the National Post (Canada), Scientific American Magazine, Drkoop.Com, Forbes.Com, Health Central.Com, and U.S. News & World Report.
• The February 15, 2008 Medical News Today featured a recent study published in an article in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The study found that, compared to whites, blacks with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, were less likely to receive a lung transplant. Blacks were also more likely than whites to die or be removed from the transplant list. The lead author of the journal article was David Lederer, MD, an attending pulmonologist with the Lung Transplant Program. Additional authors included Jesse S. Wilt and Joshua R. Sonett, MD, Selim M. Arcasoy, MD, and Steven M. Kawut, MD, MS.
  
  Read an abstract of the article.
• On January 31, 2008, Dr. Morrissey appeared on CBS Evening News with Katie Couric in a segment about blood clots in hospital patients. Dr. Morrissey said not enough is being done to prevent them.
• Dr. Craig Smith and Dr. Jeffrey Moses were interviewed by NBC Nightly News regarding a new study that is the subject of an article published in the January 24, 2008 New England Journal of Medicine and was co-authored by Dr. Smith. The study, which compares outcomes for drug-eluting stents with bypass surgery, found bypass to be marginally more effective. The segment was rebroadcast by seven affiliate stations nationwide, and appeared on NBC12.com.
• The February 1, 2008 issue of O, the Oprah Magazine, ran a multiple-page feature about two pediatric heart patients at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian. One of the patients, an American boy, was operated on by Dr. Jonathan Chen (who was mentioned in the article), the other, a Japanese boy, by Dr. Jan Quaegebeur. The article focused on the relationship that developed between the two mothers, one of whom lost her son during his heart transplant after two successful previous surgeries.