North Shore LIJ

April 18, 2012

Buffett’s Prostate Cancer
Is Not a Death Knell

Louis Kavoussi, MD

Warren Buffett has announced to shareholders that he has the most common cancer in men, Stage 1 prostate cancer.

April 17, 2012

IBS: What It Is and How to Live with Its Symptoms

Bethany DeVito, MD

Since April is Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Awareness Month, it’s a good time to talk about this common disorder. 

• eat a healthy diet;
• manage everyday stress; and
• exercise every day.

April 06, 2012

In the News: April Week 1

Terry Lynam

Hospital food usually gets a bad rap, but chefs from 11 North Shore-LIJ Hospitals competed last week in the health system’s first-ever cooking challenge to prove that hospital chefs can serve up gourmet restaurant-quality meals, but without the high fat, calories or sodium.  Three celebrity chef judges awarded Forest Hills' chefs with the top prize for their original dish of stuffed pork tenderloin with cranberry wild rice. Lenox Hill and Syosset hospitals finished second and third, respectively.

Researchers at the Feinstein Institute were also in the news this past week, with TV outlets across the country running a story featuring the Feinstein's Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Bettie Steinberg talking about the success of the arthritis drug Celebrex in treating diseases caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), such as recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP). In other research news, the Monter Cancer Center's Dr. Iuliana Shapira presented data at last weekend's American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in Chicago, identifying a genetic marker that indicates whether a patient with ovarian cancer has a benign or cancerous tumor, and if she will benefit from chemotherapy after surgery on the tumor.

Newsday also ran a great profile of Dr. Jennifer Mieres, who heads the health system's Office of Community and Public Health, and her goals for reaching the region's diverse communities.

April 05, 2012

Coming to Labels Soon: What Chemicals Are in Cigarettes

Kenneth Spaeth, MD
Director, Occupational and Environmental Medicine Center
Pat Folan, RN
Director, Center for Tobacco Control

Tobacco companies must display the concentration of 20 cancer-causing chemicals in cigarettes on warning labels beginning this June, according to a new requirement enacted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This is the agency’s latest step to make the toxicity of cigarettes more transparent.

While there are more than 7,000 chemicals in cigarettes, 93 of them are proven to be harmful. However, the FDA selected 20 to display because of ease of testing, which ensures compliance. The 20 cigarette chemicals include such well-studied, recognized carcinogens as toluene, formaldehyde and benzene.

Just as nutritional labels on foods list such elements as calories, sodium and fats to help consumers make better-informed, healthier choices, the hope is that displaying the types and amounts of these chemicals on cigarette warning labels will add to the myriad motivators to inspire smokers to quit.

The FDA will also require tighter restrictions on tobacco company claims that characterize some tobacco products as “less risky” to health, including snuff and electronic cigarettes, which have been more heavily marketed in recent years.

Despite great success in the struggle against this scourge, smoking contributes roughly 20 percent of all deaths each year in the United States (more than HIV, drug and alcohol use, motor vehicle accidents, suicides and murders combined) at a cost of about nearly $200 billion. So the more we do to help people quit or never start using tobacco, the better off everyone will all be.

The North Shore-LIJ Center for Tobacco Control offers quit-smoking help. Call us at 516-466-1980.

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April 02, 2012

LIJ and North Shore Rank Tops for Heart Surgery in New York

Terry Lynam

LIJ Medical Center and North Shore University Hospital rank among the best for cardiac care, according to the New York State Department of Health. In a new report on adult cardiac surgery (covering 2007-09), LIJ was one of only four hospitals in New York State--and the only hospital on Long Island--with risk-adjusted mortality rates that were significantly better than the statewide average; the report covered 676 surgeries to repair or replace heart valves and surgeries for both valve/coronary artery bypass graft (CABG).

Furthermore, LIJ and North Shore University Hospital were among six hospitals in the state--and the only ones on Long Island--distinguished by low, risk-adjusted mortality rates in a separate category analyzing outcomes for CABG, valve or valve/CABG procedures.

The video below shows two LIJ heart surgeons, Robert Palazzo, MD, and S. Jacob Scheinerman, MD, and North Shore University Hospital surgeons Alan Hartman, MD, and Robert Kalimi, MD, who were among 13 surgeons statewide to earn the Department of Health’s prestigious double-asterisk for their extraordinarily low mortality rates. Full Post - to Detail View