Neighbor to Neighbor February 2012
In light of the National Heart Month, we bring you the latest “heart” news and other stories from the campus partners – Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and Children’s Memorial Hospital. Read about top experts working together to offer cardiac care from childhood to adulthood, a race to support cardiac care and research, findings on preventing heart disease and cancer, and a story of a father’s love and determination for his daughter’s recovery.
Caring for the Heart from Childhood to Adulthood
More children born with complex heart disease are now surviving into adulthood, and they need continuing care from experts in congenital heart disease. To address their unique needs, the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Center of Excellence at Children’s Memorial Hospital’s Heart Center combines cardiac specialists from both pediatric and adult worlds. After the opening of Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago on June 9, 2012, these pediatric and adult experts will share the same Streeterville campus, with greater benefits to patients.
The team is led by Andrew A. de Freitas, MD, a specialist in complex congenital heart disease who is trained and certified to care for children and adults. He sees patients at both Children's and Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Surgical Director Hyde M. Russell, MD, treats patients at both hospitals as well. Also caring for patients with adult congenital heart disease is Steven Kindel, MD, who has expertise managing patients with heart failure. The team collaborates with pediatric experts in areas ranging from arrhythmias to heart transplants.
Once in its new home at Lurie Children’s, the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Center will offer more convenience to adult patients needing to see pediatric and adult cardiac specialists, and allow these specialists to work together ever more closely to develop better care. Another boost to continuity of cardiac care at Lurie Children’s will be the 36-bed Regenstein Cardiac Care Unit (CCU) where cardiology and cardiovascular surgery patients will stay from admission to discharge, reducing the need for transfers to other units within the hospital, which increases patient safety. The CCU will provide the expertise, technology and comprehensive resources to treat complex heart conditions from infancy through young adulthood.
Unique Indoor Run to Support Cardiovascular Treatment and Research
Chicago may be in the midst of a cold, icy winter, but there’s no reason to wait until the spring to run in an organized race. In honor of National Heart Month, Northwestern Memorial Hospital is sponsoring the “Warm Your Heart 5k” on Sunday, February 26, at McCormick Place.
The single-loop race through the warm, climate-controlled convention center is being held during one of Chicago’s coldest months to help raise awareness of heart disease. Northwestern's Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute will benefit from the race, with proceeds used to support cardiovascular care and research.
The Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute is a nationally recognized program that delivers highly specialized cardiovascular care. In 2011, U.S. News & World Report ranked this Cardiology and Heart Surgery program 16th in the nation and ranked Northwestern Memorial as No. 1 in the Chicago metro region. Six distinct clinical centers within the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute are focused on the prevention and treatment of heart and vascular disease through the investigation of new technologies, drugs, techniques and devices that ultimately translate into the best patient care.
To learn more about the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute and the “Warm Your Heart 5k,” visit Northwestern Memorial’s website today »
Healthy Lifestyle for Your Heart also Cuts Cancer Risk Up to 40 Percent
Consider it the ultimate health twofer. A new Northwestern Medicine study shows the behaviors and risk factors that reduce the incidence of heart disease also substantially lower the risk of lung, breast, prostate and colon cancers by up to nearly 40 percent.
This is the first study to examine the effect of seven key healthy cardiovascular behaviors and risk factors on cancer incidence. Those seven measures include a healthy diet, plenty of physical activity, no smoking, healthy body weight and blood pressure and ideal levels of cholesterol and blood sugar. Having just one of them lowered the risk of cancer by 20 percent; and having five to seven of them cut the risk by almost 40 percent.
It’s known that some of these individual factors protect against cancer, but no one had ever looked at the cumulative effect of all seven, known as the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Life’s Simple 7.
The research was presented Nov. 16 at the AHA Scientific Sessions 2011 in Orlando.
“It’s a big bonus that a healthy lifestyle not only protects you from cardiovascular disease but also helps you avoid cancer,” said lead investigator Laura Rasmussen-Torvik, PhD, an assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “That awareness should provide extra motivation for people to adopt these behaviors. Even if we remove smoking from our score, we still see the overall beneficial effect.”
For the study, researchers looked at data from 13,360 participants from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, a community-based cohort.
The research was funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
A Father’s Love, a Promise, an Amazing Outcome
With Frank Sinatra singing “The Way You Look Tonight,” Laetitia Hatem raised her arm over her head as her father twirled her around, beaming at his 16-year-old daughter as their dance came to a close. It would be a lovely moment in any young girl’s life, but for this father and daughter, it was truly remarkable.
Months earlier, Laetitia had been horse-back riding near her home when she fell, landing on the back of her neck. The resulting spinal cord injury left her unable to move from the shoulders down. A doctor performed surgery to stabilize Laetitia’s neck. When she woke up, her father told her, “Laetitia, my promise to you is 100 percent recovery. We will not accept 99 percent.’”
Looking for “the best place on earth for her rehabilitation,” Mr. Hatem chose the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC). Although the family lives in Lebanon, they boarded a plane for Chicago. At RIC, Laetitia received cutting-edge kind of treatment that not only restored her ability to walk, it enabled her father to come through on his promise.
Follow this link to watch a video of Laetitia’s amazing recovery.