April 29, 2008

FEWER DREADED 'CALL-BACKS' FOR DIGITAL MAMMOGRAPHY: Since it went totally digital in August 2005, screening mammography at Baptist Outpatient Services has bucked a national trend.  The New York Times recently reported that as most health systems switch from film to digital mammography, they record an increase in false positives.  These are stressful "call-backs" for women to come in and have repeat tests that ultimately turn out to be normal.  Such a spike never occurred at Baptist.  In fact, our overall "call-back" rate began dropping as soon as we implemented digital mammography, falling from around 20 percent in July 2005 to around 14 percent today.
BACKGROUND AND CONTACT: Breast cancer is the second most common in women.  Every year, about 150,000 cases are diagnosed, and about 40,000 women die. In 2005, a major study showed that digital mammography-which displays breast images on a computer screen instead of X-ray film -- significantly enhances radiologists' ability to find breast tumors in women under 50 and those with dense breast tissue.  That's because computer technology allows radiologists to adjust contrast and magnification to see things that would have been blurry or invisible on film.  However, seeing more than before often has the immediate result of more "call-backs" and repeat testing while radiologists get used to this new imaging system. To talk about how Baptist radiologists bucked the trend, and how digital mammography has revolutionized screening for breast cancer, please contact Vanessa Lopez vanessal@baptisthealth.net 786-596-3404.

April 22, 2008

BAPTIST RESEARCHES PROMISING, NEW CORONARY STENT:  Ramon Quesada, M.D., director of interventional cardiology at Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute, led the only team in our region to study a promising, new heart stent.  The results of that national study, called SPIRIT III, will be published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.  
BACKGROUND AND CONTACT: In the JAMA study, embargoed until 4 p.m. today, patients who received the new XIENCE coronary stent had about 40 percent fewer heart attacks and follow-up heart procedures (4.6 percent vs. 8.1 percent) than patients receiving an older stent.  The XIENCE stent is coated with everolimus, while the older stent is coated with paclitaxel. All drug coatings on stents are aimed at stopping the growth of scar tissue around the stent that may re-block the artery.  Patients in the study were checked at nine and 12 months after receiving their stents.  To interview Dr. Quesada and a patient, please contact Anne Smith asmith@baptisthealth.net  786-596-6534.

April 15, 2008

1. STENTS EQUAL SURGERY FOR PREVENTING STROKES:  Stents are as effective as surgery at preventing strokes in high-risk patients, according to the first long-term study comparing the two treatments. Barry T. Katzen, M.D., founder and medical director of Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute, was one of the authors of the three-year SAPPHIRE study published in last week’s New England Journal of Medicine.
BACKGROUND AND CONTACT:  About 25 percent of strokes in the elderly are caused by plaque build-up in the neck which breaks loose and is carried into the brain.  As a result, surgery to remove plaque from the carotid arteries of the neck has long been considered the “gold standard” for stroke prevention. However, about four years ago, the FDA approved the first carotid stent for the sickest of patients who, because of heart or lung disease, cannot tolerate surgery. Due to the age and condition of the patients in the SAPPHIRE study, about 20 percent died--mostly from non-stroke causes--within three years of receiving a stent or surgery. However, survival and adverse events were equivalent in the two treatment groups.  This means stents have passed a critical test of durability, and that physicians can choose between surgery and stents for their most fragile patients based on the individual patient’s anatomy and medical condition. To speak to Dr. Katzen and a patient, please contact Anne Smith asmith@baptisthealth.net  786-596-6534.

April 1, 2008

1. FIGHTING CHOLESTEROL GETS MORE CONFUSING: An expert panel of the American College of Cardiology just recommended physicians stop prescribing blockbuster anti-cholesterol drug Vytorin except in cases where a statin drug is not effective or cannot be tolerated. This is a major turnabout.  And, it comes on the heels of a study showing that Vytorin, a combination of Zetia plus a statin, is actually more effective than the same statin, alone, in reducing “bad” or LDL cholesterol in the blood.  Here’s the problem: the same study showed more expensive Vytorin still didn’t work any better than the cheaper generic statin, alone, in lowering heart disease risk  
BACKGROUND AND CONTACT:  What is a person with high LDL (bad) cholesterol to do? Cardiologist Theodore Feldman, M.D., medical director of the South Miami Heart Center, says patients shouldn’t panic and stop taking Vytorin or Zetia before talking to their physician. It could be that the study patients who didn’t do better on Vytorin were so carefully selected and so high-risk—and had been treated with statins so aggressively before the study--that their results don’t reflect those of the average person taking Vytorin.  Dr. Feldman authored a 2004 American Journal of Cardiology article demonstrating that the Zetia-statin combination in Vytorin dramatically improved patients’ ability over a statin, alone, in reaching their cholesterol-lowering targets.  Dr. Feldman is also helping to lead a definitive, new study that will measure Vytorin’s benefits in a much larger and more diverse population of patients.  For more information and to speak to Dr. Feldman and a patient, please contact Martha Martin martham@baptisthealth.net  786-662-4186.

March 18, 2008

1. ‘SIXTY MINUTES’ SPOTLIGHTS PEDIATRIC MEDICATION ERRORS:  March 16 on CBS’s “Sixty Minutes,”  film star Dennis Quaid and his wife drew attention to a hospital medication error that almost took the lives of their newborn twins last year at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Baptist Children’s Hospital has implemented safety measures to prevent confusion between vastly different dosages of dangerous drugs like heparin, the blood thinner mistakenly given to the Quaid twins in mega-dosages.  In addition, Baptist’s Children’s is implementing a pediatric pharmacy that excludes dangerous adult medications, and which even sequesters general pediatric drugs from those needed by fragile, low birth-weight infants.
BACKGROUND AND CONTACT: Pediatric medication safety is one of the most complicated challenges that hospital pharmacies face because unlike adults, hospitalized children must receive IV drips and other drugs based on their body weight.  To further complicate matters, body weight can change daily while a child is in the hospital. So to enhance safety, Baptist Children’s makes sure each patient’s weight is brought up-to-date on every medication order.  Each order is scanned into a computer, which performs the complex dosage calculations once done by human beings.  Computers also provide IV "drip-rate" charts and lists of correct dosages by weight for the 50 most common pediatric drugs. Every medication order is double-checked in Baptist Children’s pharmacy before it goes to the patient’s floor, and then checked a third time against the physician’s original order by a nurse at bedside. All high-risk medications in the pediatric pharmacy are marked with a bright, orange label and higher, potentially dangerous concentrations of drugs are color-coded to prevent confusion.  For interviews and visuals, please contact:  Barbara Moore  barbaram@baptisthealth.net  786-596-6638.

2.  PET SCANS CAN DISTINGUISH BETWEEN EARLY ALZHEIMER’S AND OTHER DEMENTIAS:  A recent study in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine showed that an automated system for reading PET scans could distinguish among several different types of dementia, even at their earliest stage.  From past work, scientists had already associated different forms of dementia with different patterns of glucose use in the brain.  According to the study, PET scans, a type of nuclear imaging, can check for those specific patterns of glucose uptake and identify them with better than 90 percent accuracy. The use of automated scan interpretation was considered key to the PET scans’ accuracy across the different research sites in the study.  For more information about PET in diagnosing Alzheimer’s and other dementias at an early stage, please contact Liz Latta  elizabetl@baptisthealth.net  786-596-7860. 

March 04, 2008

1. MARCH 2-8 IS PATIENT SAFETY AWARENESS WEEK:  Baptist Health has trained 500 staffers to be its frontline troops in the battle to prevent medical errors.  These "patient safety champions" speak up whenever they see anything that might put a patient at risk.  And, they get plenty of help from dozens of other safety initiatives Baptist Health will celebrate during Patient Safety Awareness Week, sponsored by a national foundation chaired by long-time Baptist Hospital ob-gyn, Paul Gluck, M.D. 
BACKGROUND AND CONTACT:  Baptist Health believes our patients are safer because our staff take "time out" before invasive procedures to go through a complete safety checklist--much like pilots in a cockpit preparing for take-off.  Even after a procedure has begun, every caregiver is empowered to "stop the line" if they see something wrong.  At the pharmacy level, we flag for special attention drugs that look or sound alike.  We make sure every patient is identified in two different ways before receiving any treatment, and ask physicians not to use abbreviations that can be easily--and dangerously--misread. We urge patients to bring a complete list of their medications to the hospital, and instruct caregivers to wash their hands immediately upon entering a patient's room.   For more information, interviews and visuals, ple! ase contact Liz Latta elizabetl@baptisthealth.net 786-596-7860 or Elsa Figueredo elsaf@baptisthealth.net  786-308-3410. 

2. PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE SURGES AMONG YOUNG:  South Miami Hospital's Addiction Treatment Program is seeing local evidence of a national trend: abuse of prescription drugs by high school and college students.  A nationwide increase in prescriptions for easily abused opioid pain-killers, stimulants and sedatives like Valium and Xanax raises special concern because of these drugs' high rates of non-medical use, abus! e and dependence among young adults 18 to 24 years of age. 
BACKGROUND AND CONTACTS:  According to a new study in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 60 percent of 3,639 University of Michigan students report having used at least one opioid, stimulant, sleeping aid or anti-anxiety drug with a prescription for medical reasons.  In addition, one in five reported taking such drugs without a ! prescription for non-medical reasons.  This group was much more likely to show signs of drug abuse than those who had used prescription drugs only for medical reasons or not at all.  Researchers concluded that young patients should be appropriately diagnosed and treated, with follow-up monitoring to prevent prescription drug abuse.  For interviews and more info about how South Miami's program is grappling with prescription drug abuse in the young, please contact Bethany Rundell bethanyr@baptisthealth.net 786-662-5015.

February 19, 2008

SAVING PATIENTS BEFORE THEY ‘CRASH’:  A study in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association reports that in-hospital cardiac arrests are more lethal at night and on weekends.  But all cardiac arrests are hard to survive, even in the hospital. So Baptist Health figured out a way to prevent many of its “code blues” by rushing specialized medical teams to patients’ bedsides whenever they show certain warning signs. The so-called “crash cart” is not exactly extinct.  But with its “Code Rescue” program, South Miami Hospital, for example, has reduced cardiac arrests on its general medical-surgical floors by 40 percent.

BACKGROUND AND CONTACTS:  The death rate from cardiac arrest in hospitals surpasses 80 percent.  That’s because it’s a hopelessly late moment to intervene in a patient’s deteriorating medical condition.  Under Baptist Health’s “Code Rescue” program, every nurse is empowered to activate a three-member Rapid Response Team with just one call.  The team is composed of an ICU nurse, a respiratory therapist, and a nursing supervisor who rapidly converge at the patient’s bedside.  Code Rescue brings the ICU to the patient rather than waiting to transfer a patient in crisis to the ICU.  This  rapid response program also provides nursing staff throughout each hospital with a list of standard warning signs to help them identify patients in time to head off cardiac arrest.   For more information and interviews, please contact Bethany Rundell bethanyr@baptisthealth.net  786-662-5015, Elizabeth Latta elizabetl@baptisthealth.net  786-596-7860,  Elsa Figueredo elsaf@baptisthealth.net  786-308-3410, and Sheila Konczewski, sheilak@baptisthealth.net  305-434-1020.

December 4, 2007

1.  TOO MUCH RADIATION FROM TOO MANY CT SCANS?  New, high-speed CT scanners can get hundreds of images from deep inside the body in just a few seconds.  But experts say the incredible ease and stunning results of this new  technology carry  a hidden cost: increased cancer risk.  Radiation from CT is particularly risky for children, who are more likely to suffer genetic damage leading to cancer and to accumulate more cancer risk over their lifetime.  Radiologists at Baptist Children's and Homestead Hospitals can tell your audience when CT is the best option for an adult or child, and describe how radiation can be controlled during a CT scan.
BACKGROUND AND CONTACT:  A New England Journal of Medicine study last week reported strong evidence that too many CT scans are performed in the U.S.   With the purchase of costly, high-tech scanners by almost every hospital, the number of U.S. scans per year has grown from 3 million in 1980 to an estimated 62 million scans today.  It's estimated that a single CT "study," often consisting of more than one scan, can deliver 200 times the radiation of a standard X-ray.  In particular, experts question the use of CT to diagnose acute appendicitis in children.  Up to one-third of all CTs performed in children could probably be replaced by less risky diagnostic tests, like ultrasound, or not performed at all.  And, a majority of physicians ordering CTs in one Yale University study underestimated the radiation dose that a CT scan delivers as well as the increased cancer risk.  For visuals and expert interviews, please contact Tanya Walton ! tanyaw@baptisthealth.net  786-243-8664 or Barbara Moore  barbaram@baptisthealth.net  786-596-6638.

2. 'TIS THE SEASON FOR HOLIDAY HEALTH STORIES:  You can still beat the holiday rush,  file early and file often with this assortment of holiday-themed personal health stories:
A.  How can parents and families handle the ramped-up stress of the holidays?  Experts at the Behavioral and Collaborative Medicine Program at South Miami Hospital can provide tips on how to fit everything in without losing your sanity.  Please contact bethanyr@baptisthealth.net 786-662-5015.
B. Holiday travel and gatherings put us at greater risk for colds and flu. How do you tell the difference between a cold and flu and what treatment works best for each?  Also, what are the best methods for avoiding infection at work and school, during shopping, parties, and air travel?  Please contact Tanya Walton tanyaw@baptisthealth.net   784-243-8664.
C. How do you minimize holiday weight gain while still enjoying festive family and social events?  Are there any new weight control tools available this holiday season?  Please contact Elizabeth Latta elizabetl@baptisthealth.net 786-596-7860.
D. Avoiding the holiday blues: It's hard for the holidays to measure up to all we expect from them, especially if there are addictions, a recent loss, or entrenched family problems.  How do you keep from getting depressed or falling back into substance abuse during this special time of year? Please contact bethanyr@baptisthealth.net 786-662-5015.
E.  The holidays can be painful for those who have lost a loved one, bringing up memories that make it hard to just get through the day. Trained bereavement facilitators who run support groups through a network of South Florida churches and synagogues can give some suggestions to help those wrestling with loss and grief at this special time of year. To learn more about the Holiday Bill of Rights, call Barbara Moore barbaram@baptisthealth.net  786-596-6638.

November 6, 2007

1. BAPTIST PHYSICAN PRESENTS FIRST U.S. EVIDENCE THAT STENTS WORK IN LEGS:  An estimated 8 million Americans suffer from blocked leg arteries, risking their ability to walk and in severe cases, amputation of a limb.  Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute Founder and Medical Director Barry Katzen, M.D. recently presented results from the first U.S. scientific study conducted at 25 centers proving that stents are superior to angioplasty alone in clearing leg blockages.
BACKGROUND AND CONTACT:  Results from this ground-breaking prospective, randomized trial, called RESILIENT, showed that 80 percent of patients who received a highly flexible "bare metal" leg stent had unobstructed blood flow after one year.  That  compared with only 38 percent of patients who received balloon angioplasty alone.  Clinical success, defined as the ability to climb stairs and walk farther and faster with less pain, was achieved in 72 percent of stent patients vs. 34 percent of angioplasty-only subjects.  To speak to Dr. Katzen and a patient, please contact Anne Smith asmith@baptisthealth.net  786-596-6534.

2.  'RADIOACTIVE SEED' THERAPY GOOD FOR BOTH YOUNGER AND OLDER PROSTATE CANCER PATIENTS:  A new study is standing conventional wisdom on its head and opening the door for younger men to receive a type of radiation treatment called brachytherapy instead of surgery for early-stage prostate cancer.  For years, doctors believed that younger patients did not benefit as much as older men from implanted radioactive "seeds." However, a new study shows that physicians should no longer hesitate to offer brachytherapy to men of any age who are otherwise good candidates for the therapy.
BACKGROUND AND CONTACT: In a study presented at a recent meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiation and Oncology, researchers examined records from 1,763 men with localized prostate cancer who were divided into three age groups: under  60, 61-65, and 76 and older.  Researchers found that age played no role in a key marker of prostate cancer -- the level of prostate specific antigen or PSA -- five years after brachytherapy.  Overall, 90% of the men remained cancer-free after five years and men in the youngest group actually appeared to have slightly better PSA levels. To speak to a physician and patient, please contact Phyllis Teitelbaum  phyllist@baptisthealth.net  786-596-5671.

3.  CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE JUMPS 30 PERCENT DUE TO DIABETES, OBESITY:  Dialysis and organ transplants for kidney failure have increased dramatically in recent years. So has heart disease attributed to the same silent precursor, chronic kidney disease. CKD is diagnosed when an individual has excessive blood protein and reduced fluid filtering by the kidneys.  The estimated number of Americans over 20 suffering from CKD has grown from 10 to 13 percent-a 30 percent jump-according to an embargoed study to be published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.  Researchers found almost all this new early-stage kidney disease was due to higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity. 
BACKGROUND AND CONTACTS:  CKD is now recognized as a common condition that raises the risk of cardiovascular disease as well as kidney failure.  Because people with the silent, early stages of CKD have a higher risk of suffering from heart disease than progressing to kidney failure, cardiovascular risk management in this group is critical.  To speak to an expert about the link between obesity, diabetes and kidney disease, please contact Elizabeth Latta elizabetl@baptisthealth.net  786-596-7860.

October 23, 2007

1.  NOW YOU CAN SNOOZE THROUGH FALL TIME CHANGE:  Twice a year, we're asked to change our sleep schedules overnight.  If this leaves you tired and dragging, you're not alone.  Some helpful tips from sleep technologists at Mariners, Baptist and South Miami Hospitals might keep you from losing sleep over the upcoming change from Daylight Savings to Standard Time on Sunday, November 4.
BACKGROUND AND CONTACTS:  With the fall time change, earlier light exposure in the morning can wake us up too soon.  Sleep loss and daytime drowsiness result.  Sleep trouble that persists for weeks after a time change could warrant a visit to a sleep clinic to diagnose or rule out any of 100 sleep disorders.  Signs of these include: chronic trouble falling asleep; waking up with a headache; restlessness in the legs, jerking of the arms, legs or body; teeth-grinding or getting hot and sweaty while asleep. For tips and visuals on how to snooze through the coming time change, please contact Sheila Konczewsk! i, sheilak@baptisthealth.net 305-434-1020; Bethany Rundell bethanyr@baptisthealth.net 786-662-5015; or Barbara Moore barbaram@baptisthealth.net 786-596-6638.

2. HOW NOT TO CATCH HALLOWEEN "MONSTER-BUG" IN GYM, AT SCHOOL:  In a health scare well-timed for Halloween, an antibiotic-resistant superbug once confined mainly to hospitals is now being found in the community, particularly in school gyms and locker rooms.  It's called drug-resistant staph. And this new community-acquired strain is getting lots of attention since the death of a Virginia high school senior last week, plus the sickening of nine college athletes and their coach in New York, as well as nine Martin County High School students and a Boca Raton elementary student.  Most drug-resistant staph cases are only mild skin infections. And, there are some simple precautions your family can take to avoid a case of staph that becomes a true "monster bug."
BACKGROUND AND CONTACT:  Antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria are now so widespread that they are as likely to be carried into hospitals and nursing homes on patients' skin as re-circulated within the facility itself.  While more than half of all dangerous staph infections still occur in the healthcare system, the bacteria are now also striking non-medical institutions like schools and prisons.  In rare cases, staph can become the stuff of horror movies when it invades through a scratch or wound to become a flesh-eating monster or a blood-borne menace that attacks vital organs.  For tips and visuals, please contact Elizabeth Latta elizabetl@baptisthealth.net 786-596-7860 or Sheila Konczewski sheilak@baptisthealth.net 305-434-1020.

3. NOW ELECTRONIC 'EYES' WATCH OVER EMERGENCY PATIENTS: ER patients at South Miami Hospital are the first in Florida to benefit from a "mobile eICU" that uses webcams and other monitoring equipment to send vital information directly from the patient's bedside to a command center staffed by critical care physicians.  Why bring this type of e-vigilance to the ER?  Last week, remote staff at our eICU command center helped busy on-site ER physicians fine-tune ventilator settings, adjust insulin dosing and IV drips, and generally extend their reach.  For more information about the added edge that remote electronic monitoring can give the most seriously ill ER patients, please contact Martha Martin martham@baptisthealth.net 786-662-4186.

October 9, 2007

1.  EXPERIMENTAL TEST USHERS IN PERSONALIZED CANCER THERAPY:  It's no secret in the oncology world that no two patients' tumors react the same way to the same chemotherapy drug.  Now there's an experimental assay--being tested at Doctors Hospital on patients with cancers of the ovary, uterus, and cervix--that pits a battery of chemotherapy drugs against a patient's living cancer cells in a test tube to see which drug comes out on top. The hope is that the drug best at killing tumor cells in the lab will prove best at killing tumors inside the patient, ushering in a whole, new era of personalized cancer therapy.
BACKGROUND AND CONTACT:  Oncologists generally can choose between several chemotherapy agents when treating gynecologic cancers like those of the ovaries, uterus and cervix.  But, so far, doctors have never had a way of knowing, in advance, which agent will work best in any individual.  As a result, patients often have to suffer through a whole series of
chemotherapies, most with toxic side-effects, until they find the one that works best for them. Manuel Penalver, M.D., a certified gynecologic cancer surgeon at Doctors Hospital, is participating with physicians at just eight other hospitals nationwide in the study of a test aimed at customizing chemotherapy to the patient.  If and when the test becomes widely available, it could give patients a much better chance of beating their cancer with
fewer delays and side-effects. To get Dr. Penalver's and a patient's reaction to this revolution in cancer care, please contact Elsa Figueredo elsaf@baptisthealth.net 786-308-3410.

2.  STUDY SOLVES MYSTERY OF POST-MENOPAUSAL HEART DISEASE:  For decades,
it's been known that pre-menopausal women were somehow protected from the kind of plaque build-up and hardening of the arteries that so often led to heart disease in men.  Doctors long assumed that the female hormone, estrogen, had a protective effect on the arteries.  A recent study solves the "estrogen mystery," explaining exactly how the female hormone protects
the cardiovascular system and suggesting some strategies women can undertake
after menopause drastically reduces their estrogen levels