Breast Cancer Patients Might Not Always Need Lymph Nodes Removed
(Published 2-28-06, NBC10) There are advances in breast cancer treatment that are leaving women whole.
In the past, women with breast cancer worried whether they would need a lumpectomy or mastectomy. A lumpectomy is surgery
to take out a lump. A mastectomy removes the entire breast.
These days, when breast cancer is found early with mammograms, many breasts can be spared. In fact, doctors are even able
to save more women from surgery to remove the lymph nodes under their arms. That kind of surgery can lead to some very difficult
complications.
"If the sentinel node can be found and if it is negative, it spares women from having the rest of the axilary nodes removed
-- the nodes under the arm. If the nodes were not removed, it would be very rare for patients to get a fat arm, known as lymphedema
or increased likelihood of infection of the arm," said Dr. Gordon Schwartz, a breast surgeon at Jefferson University Hospital.
Department of Surgery
CancerCARE at Jefferson
BreastCARE at Jefferson
Media Coverage:
NBC10
New center at Jeff
(Published 2-27-06, Philadelphia Business Journal) Thomas Jefferson University Hospital has launched a new center that will
specialize in patients affected by movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, dystonia, and Tourette's
syndrome.
Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience
Department of Neurology
Department of Neurosurgery
Media Coverage:
Philadelphia Business Journal
Shedding Light on a Fading Mind
(Published 2-26-06, Philadelphia Inquirer) Autopsies are the only way to truly diagnose dementia, but that may not be true
much longer. Scientists are racing to figure out what's going on in patients' brains while they can still be treated.
Sam Gandy, director of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital's Farber Institute for Neurosciences, considers human brains crucial
for disease research based on animal models and for measuring the impact of drugs.
He started accepting brains for autopsy as soon as he came to Jefferson in 2001 and stepped up the effort last year. Scientists
also use archived brain tissue to test new theories.
Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience
Farber Institute for Neurosciences
Department of Neurology
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Media Coverage:
Philadelphia Inquirer
Can You Hear me Now?
(Published 2-22-06, Jewish Exponent) We live in a noisy world and, at times, a very noisy Philadelphia metropolitan area,
where so-called "noise pollution" surrounds, assaults and bombards our senses day and night.
While most of these and other sources of noise are fleeting, they can be stressful, and even feed a noise anxiety in some
people, who'd rather flee the scene than fight the urge not to seek shelter from the endless barrage.
"Prolonged loud noise can be injurious to the cochlea or inner ear, as sound-pressure waves damage hair cells," said Thomas
Willcox, M.D., otolaryngologist, director of the Hearing Center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, and associate professor
of otolaryngology head-and-neck surgery at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. "We are
less sensitive to loud noises today because culturally, society has accepted them to some degree, but from a health standpoint,
there is no such thing as good noise."
Department of Otolaryngology
Jefferson Hearing Center
Media Coverage:
Jewish Exponent
Silverhawk Drill
(Published 2-19-06, 6 ABC) Also known as hardening of the leg arteries, peripheral artery disease affects as many as 15 million
people in the United States. The pain, or sometimes numbness that people experience as a result of this disease, results from
a plaque buildup along the artery walls, which causes interruption of blood flow in a person’s leg.
Craig Frankil, D.O., director of Peripheral Vascular Intervention at the Jefferson Heart Institute of Thomas Jefferson University
Hospital recently used the Silverhawk to clear out the clogged arteries of Seymour Saslow. Seymour had been suffering from
“pain and needles” on the outside of his foot, and ultimately decided to see a doctor. The Silverhawk was inserted into an
incision the size of a pencil tip; then drilled through and pulled out the plaque buildup
“The procedure itself takes 35 to 40 minutes, it’s an overnight hospital stay,” Dr. Frankil added. “Seymour, as all the other
patients do, walked out of the hospital the next day.”
Jefferson Heart Institute
HeartCARE at Jefferson
Media Coverage:
6 ABC
Jefferson Emergency Medicine Physician Honored For His Work to Reduce Youth Violence Prevention
(Published 2-16-06, Philadelphia Business Journal) An emergency room physician who has witnessed first hand the devastating
toll created by youth violence, Jefferson emergency medicine physician Ted Corbin, M.D., FACP, is among the public health
professionals who have dedicated their lives to doing something about it. Philadelphia Business Journal has honored Dr. Corbin
for his work by naming him one of Philadelphia's 40 Under 40, 40 individuals under the age of 40 who are proven performers
in their respective industries and communities.
Department of Emergency Medicine
Media Coverage:
Philadelphia Business Journal
Don't Worry, Be Happy?
(Published 2-16-06, Jewish Exponent) Unhappy about the way your life is going? Take heart; you’re not alone!
According to a new report by the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center, more Americans are unhappy about
their lives today than they were in 1991, the last time the study was conducted.
For Dmitri Markov, M.D., a Jefferson University Hospital psychiatrist, unhappy vs. happy is simply a question of resiliency:
“With more ‘stressors’ — or adverse events today — some people — usually around 15 percent of the general population — are
easily overwhelmed, and can be left feeling unhappy and even helpless.
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Sleep Disorders Center
Media Coverage:
Jewish Exponent
Man Gives Stranger Valentine's Gift Of Kidney
(Published 2-14-06, NBC10) A man from Philadelphia wins the prize for giving the most loving gift on Valentine's Day.
Paul Wagner gave one of his kidneys to a total stranger. Wagner just happened to read about Gail Tomas, who needed a kidney,
on MatchingDonors.com. The surgery took place on Valentine's Day at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and you can read
all about it in stories below on NBC10, 6ABC, MSNBC and in the Philadelphia Daily News.
Department of Surgery
Kidney Transplantation
Division of Transplantation
Department of Medicine
Media Coverage:
NBC10
6ABC
MSNBC
Philadelphia Daily News
Valentine's Day Organ donation at Jefferson
(Published 2-14-06, Philadelphia Daily News) Is it fair for donors to choose who gets their organs, when thousands of other
potential recipients, who might be in more dire need, languish on waiting lists? On the other hand, given their sacrifice,
who would deny donors a say in who they save?
I'm thinking specifically of Paul Wagner, 40, who today will donate one of his kidneys to Gail Tomas, 67, at Thomas Jefferson
University Hospital.
Wagner met Tomas in December through www.matching-donors.com, a nonprofit Web site matching potential organ donors with recipients.
Wagner logged on out of curiosity. He found a posting for Tomas, who's been on dialysis for 18 months.
Department of Surgery
Kidney Transplantation
Division of Transplantation
Media Coverage:
Philadelphia Daily News
Cloning Expert at Pitt Rebuked
(Published 2-11-06, Philadelphia Inquirer) Gerald Schatten, a University of Pittsburgh scientist, did not help falsify a fraudulent
South Korean stem-cell paper, but he did cut corners, seek personal gain, and shirk his responsibility to verify the research.
Schatten had never even visited the Korean's lab nor was he a participant in Hwang's experiments, yet he “did most of the
writing” and revisions of the paper, an investigation reported.
“He was putting his name and his reputation on the line in the letter to Science,” said Lorraine Iacovitti, Ph.D., associate
director of the Farber Institute for Neurosciences of Thomas Jefferson University and professor of neurology at Jefferson
Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. “Had everyone seen the paper, [the fakery] probably would have bubbled to
the surface much quicker - maybe even before publication.”
Schatten’s ability to publish, collaborate and get grants is likely to be affected, at least temporarily, Dr. Iacovitti said.
“He’s going to pay a price,” she added.
Department of Neurology
Farber Institute for Neurosciences
Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience
Media Coverage:
Philadelphia Inquirer
Bradenton Herald
Times Leader
The Tribune
Babies' Cells Linger, May Protect Mothers
(Published 2-8-06, NPR) Scientists have proposed that when a woman has a baby, she gets not just a son or a daughter, but
a gift of cells that stays behind and protects her for the rest of her life. It's not a far-fetched idea. These cells may
behave like those famous embryonic cells: They can turn themselves into any cell mom needs.
Everybody is whispering that something like repair is what they are seeing in mice and in humans. Carol Artlett, Ph.D., research
assistant professor of medicine at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, comes right out and says so.
But so far, it's very, very preliminary, and in Dr. Artlett’s mind -- and everybody else's -- it's too early to know if baby
cells are really repairing moms. They hope so. But hope is not proof and these folks are too professional to get ahead of
their evidence.
Department of Medicine
Division of Rheumatology
Media Coverage:
NPR
Not a Place for Asthma Sufferers
(Published 2-9-06, The Philadelphia Inquirer) The Philadelphia region is the third-worst place to live if you are one of the
nation’s 20 million people suffering from asthma, according to a new study by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.
The Philadelphia area was worse than average in nine of the 12 factors examined in the study and while many communities have
enacted public smoking bans in the past year, Philadelphia has yet to do so.
“Whether Philadelphia is third or 30th, asthma is still a significant problem that needs to be addressed better and differently
than we have in the past,” said Michael P. Rosenthal, M.D., professor of family and community medicine at Thomas Jefferson
University.
“We know how to treat asthma,” Dr. Rosenthal added. “The problem is identifying people with the condition, helping them treat
it and addressing the environment in which they live to reduce the triggers” for an attack.
Department of Family and Community Medicine
Media Coverage:
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Times Leader
Centre Daily Times
Discs Ease Pain Without Fusion
(Published 2-7-06, News Journal (DE)) A car accident had left the 50-year-old Newark resident with ruptured discs in his neck.
The pain was so bad that Vento had taken to spending his nights alternating between the floor and his bed.
Epidural shots, anti-inflammatory drugs and over-the-counter painkillers did nothing to ease the discomfort, so last year
Vento started looking into surgery.
"I never missed any work, but it was just stressful," he said. "It was constant headaches. It was one of those things where
you grin and bear it, but it was exhausting."
His first option was spinal fusion surgery, which uses a stiff bone graft to replace a piece of the spine where it presses
against a nerve. Instead, Vento chose to participate in a clinical trial at the Rothman Institute at Thomas Jefferson University
Hospital in Philadelphia. There, doctors implanted a new, artificial cervical disc replacement that allows for more movement.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
Media Coverage:
News Journal (DE)
Go Red For Women
(Published 2-3-06, CBS3) “Go Red For Women” campaign is aimed at alerting women that they may be as prone to heart disease
as men. Women’s heart problems, though, are often more difficult to diagnose.
“In men heart disease is usually easy to see, but women can have heart trouble that does not show up on an angiogram,” says
Marc Tecce, M.D., cardiologist at Thomas Jefferrson University Hospital.
He recommends that women should have heart imaging during a stress test, “Whether we do a nuclear stress test or an echocardiogram
or an ultra sound stress test we always pretty much have to do some type of heart imaging.”
Department of Medicine
Division of Cardiology
Media Coverage:
CBS3
PA's Hospital-Acquired Infection Battle
(Published 2-1-06, Physician's News Digest) As the patient safety movement continues to evolve as a national priority in health
care, a particular focus on hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) has intensified in Pennsylvania. While hospitals have for
years included infection control as part of their quality improvement programs, release of the state’s first HAI reports –
last July and November – by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) has called into question the adequacy
of those efforts by tallying HAI frequency, decrying their cost, and heightening public awareness of their existence.
PHC4 has partnered with the Pittsburgh-based Jewish Healthcare Foundation to fund demonstration project grants to control
these infections. One grant recipient is Philadelphia’s Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, which is performing a rapid-cycle
work flow analysis of the materials, insertion and care of catheters inserted through the skull to relieve pressure on the
brain of severe stroke patients, several hundred of whom Jefferson treats each year, according to Jonathan Gottlieb, M.D.,
Jefferson’s senior vice president for clinical affairs.
Department of Medicine
Division of Infectious Diseases
Media Coverage:
Physician's News Digest
Doctor gets behind young gun victims
(Published 2-1-06, Metro) Ted Corbin is an emergency medicine doctor at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital working to cut
down on the number of young victims of street violence he is forced to help.
Please click on link below and go to Page 5 to read an interview with Dr. Corbin.
Department of Emergency Medicine
Media Coverage:
Metro
